RIYADH, Saudi Arabia Tuesdays high-speed Dakar Rally Stage Nine dash from Riyadh to Haradh served as a link between Saudi Arabias capital city and the barren wilderness of the Empty Quarter Desert with five-time Dakar champion Nasser Al-Attiyah scoring his first Ultimate class stage win in his Dacia Sandrider.

The Qataris 49th stage win of his illustrious Dakar career puts him 31 seconds behind the Ford Raptor T1+ of Mattias Ekström, who holds third place overall behind new Saudi leader Yazeed Al Rajhi and South African driver Henk Lategan.

We pushed all day on a very fast stage, Al-Attiyah said. Now, we need to do our best on every kilometer.

Belgian Guillaume De Mévius excelled again in second in his MINI to score useful World Rally-Raid Championship points in the second week of this Dakar, despite being over seven hours behind overall.

Today we started behind, so we knew we could push and try for a good time, De Mévius said. Thats what we did and overall the stage was good for us.

Argentine Luciano Benavides has hit a rich vein of form with back-to-back bike stage wins, which now leaves him just 7 minutes, 23 seconds off a podium finish. His Red Bull KTM Factory Racing teammate Daniel Sanders still leads from Spaniard Tosha Schareina and Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren.

I kept my focus on the roadbook all day and it was more of a mental challenge than anything else, Benavides said. The dunes are the terrain that I like the most, so I cant wait to go there tomorrow.

Australian Sanders, who has five stage wins and a 14-minute, 45-second lead in his quest for a first Dakar title.

It was a good start but, after the first neutralization section, we came into somewhere that I remembered from other years, Sanders said. The dirt was really white, so I couldnt see the tracks properly. I was just trying to make sure I was on the right spots.

With Portuguese driver Gonçalo Guerreiro of the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team just 27m58s off the Challenger class lead and SSV legend Francisco Chaleco López comfortable in third as he seeks another podium, the Friday finish is now in sight with three days of racing left.

It doesnt matter how fast you are, if you cant find the right way to go, Guerreiro said. Now its the dunes and I have no fear, lets go!

Wednesdays Stage 10 sees the remaining convoy tackle immense Empty Quarter Desert sand dunes that can reach up to 250 meters high, so all the competitors will be on high alert despite the short special distance.