The first stage of the 38th Dakar has been cancelled due to extreme weather on the course. A double whammy of storms and extremely thick low clouds kept aircraft grounded, making it impossible for them to guarantee the safety of the competitors. As a result, race director Etienne Lavigne was left with only one realistic option.

Wolfgang Fischer, Honda HRC Team Manager said: “Everyone was looking forward to the first big stage of the Dakar 2016, But we were facing a lot of rain, strong winds and torrential floods in the road section. They were also expecting a lot of river crossings during the stage. It was the right decision for sure, but it’s not nice to lose a stage. With respect to safety, compliments to the race organizers for making a decision not to put the riders at risk.”

There will be no changes in the classification and the start of stage 2 and it will be based on the places at the end of Stage 1 prologue (new addition to the Dakar Rally for 2016). Joan Barreda from Honda will be the first motorcyclist.

CS Santosh finished the 11km prologue stage at 127th place among 136 finishers.

Meanwhile, the Sherco TVS Rally team had a better outing with Alain Duclos ending 20th and his teammates Joan Pedrero Garcia was 25th while Florent Vayssade finished 35th.

Ruben Faria from Husqvarna Rockstar Energy Team is also at top slot with Honda’s Joan Barreda. Both set identical times of 6m27s. The top 48 riders finished within a minute to the leaders.

Organizers selected a route for the motorcycles and quads to move in a convoy from Rosario to Villa Carlos Paz, where Stage 2 will commence.

Stage 2 includes the longest special stage of the 2016 edition at 279 miles (450km), with a total of 488 miles (786km) to travel in the stage.