Al-Attiyah and Van Beveren stripped of Dakar Rally stage wins

HA'IL, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Five-time champion Nasser Al-Attiyah was stripped of a smashing stage win in the Dakar Rally because of a missing spare wheel on Thursday.

Instead, American driver Seth Quintero was promoted to first for the second time in a week, beating Al-Attiyah by one second.

French rider Adrien van Beveren also had the motorbike stage win taken from him after he was penalised two minutes for speeding in the Saudi Arabia desert. Instead, Luciano Benavides of Argentina was given first place by 47 seconds from Van Beveren.

Al-Attiyah initially won the fifth stage from AlUla 428 speedy kilometers east to rocky Ha'il after 4 1/2 hours by a whopping 9 minutes, 59 seconds. But the missing spare wheel cost him a 10-minute penalty, dropping the Qatari to second and bumping Quintero to first.

Quintero also was promoted to first on the first stage on Saturday after he was credited time for helping a crashed rival.

The 22-year-old Quintero, who suffered three punctures on Wednesday, was barely helped in the overall standings as he was 1 1/2 hours behind Toyota teammate and race leader Henk Lategan.

But the penalty was a double blow for Al-Attiyah, who made up only 53 seconds on Lategan and was 35 minutes behind the South African leader going into the rest day Friday.

Lategan was fourth on the stage, stretching his overall lead on second-placed Yazeed Al Rajhi to 10 minutes and third-placed Mattias Ekstrom to 21 minutes. None of the leading three drivers have won the Dakar and only Al Rajhi has made the podium, a third in 2022.

“It was the hardest first week of my career on the Dakar,” Al Rajhi said amidst his 11th Dakar and sixth on home ground. “All the stages were long, tough and difficult everywhere.”

Van Beveren led the motorbike stage for about the last 200 kilometers and thought he had his sixth career stage win, but his second speeding penalty of the race gave Benavides his fourth career stage win.

Benavides, a four-time top-10 finisher in the five Dakars he's completed, beat Van Beveren by 47 seconds. Jose Ignacio Cornejo of Chile was third.

Benavides was seventh overall, 24 minutes behind his KTM teammate and race leader Daniel Sanders. But he suggested he was being hampered by team orders.

“I hope the strategy is going to be favorable to me in the second week,” Benavides said. “I'm happy with the bike and my pace. I feel better than I ever have. But, on this race, some decisions are made that call into question the strategic choices prepared several days before.”

The overall leaders didn't change but Sanders' gap on the shrinking field was cut after he was penalised eight minutes plus for speeding three times.

That reduced his overall lead to seven minutes over Spain's Tosha Schareina and 18 minutes over Botswana's Ross Branch. Van Beveren rose from sixth to fourth, another 30 seconds back.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Arunas Gelazninkas of Lithuania rides during the fifth stage of the Dakar Rally between Alula and Hail, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Rider Bradley Cox competes during the fifth stage of the Dakar Rally between Alula and Hail, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Daccia driver Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Edouard Boulanger compete during the fifth stage of the Dakar Rally between Alula and Hail, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Driver Martin Prokop and co-driver Viktor Chytka, both of the Czech Republic, race their Ford during the fifth stage of the Dakar Rally between Alula and Hail, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Jerome Martiny of Belgium rides during the fifth stage of the Dakar Rally between Alula and Hail, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday fired off another warning to the government of Cuba as the close ally of Venezuela braces for potential widespread unrest after Nicolás Maduro was deposed as Venezuela's leader.

Cuba, a major beneficiary of Venezuelan oil, has now been cut off from those shipments as U.S. forces continue to seize tankers in an effort to control the production, refining and global distribution of the country's oil products.

Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return, “BUT NOT ANYMORE!”

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO!” Trump said in the post as he spent the weekend at his home in southern Florida. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not explain what kind of deal.

The Cuban government said 32 of its military personnel were killed during the American operation last weekend that captured Maduro. The personnel from Cuba’s two main security agencies were in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, as part of an agreement between Cuba and Venezuela.

“Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,” Trump said Sunday. “Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will.”

Trump also responded to another account’s social media post predicting that his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will be president of Cuba: “Sounds good to me!” Trump said.

Trump and top administration officials have taken an increasingly aggressive tone toward Cuba, which had been kept economically afloat by Venezuela. Long before Maduro's capture, severe blackouts were sidelining life in Cuba, where people endured long lines at gas stations and supermarkets amid the island’s worst economic crisis in decades.

Trump has said previously that the Cuban economy, battered by years of a U.S. embargo, would slide further with the ouster of Maduro.

“It’s going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It’s going down for the count.”

A person watches the oil tanker Ocean Mariner, Monrovia, arrive to the bay in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

President Donald Trump attends a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)