Rockstar Husqvarna’s Pablo Quintanilla halved Ricky Brabec’s overall lead on the penultimate stage of Dakar 2020 but still has a whopping 14 minutes to find if he wants to win.

Brabec lost a chunk of time after starting second on the road behind Monster Honda team-mate Joan Barreda. Quintanilla built up a minute’s lead on the stage over second-placed man Mattias Walkner but the KTM man reeled him back in to finish just nine seconds in arrears.

Overall, I’m really happy with my race and to be in this position going into the final day," said Quantinilla.

"After difficult months I have had coming back from injury, it feels great to be here and second overall going into tomorrow. As always I will give my all and we’ll see what will happen.”

Reigning champion Toby Price is in third place after stage 11 but he is now 22 minutes behind the leader and is out of contention save for breakdowns from the top two.

Team-mate Walkner is in fourth with Barreda completing the top five.