The organisers of the Dakar had cracked down on competitors making modifications to the official roadbook starting from Stage 3, and on Monday a provision was added that also prohibited route notes “on the machine or on any part of the rider's body or clothing”.

Benavides, who sat fifth overall, 21 minutes off marathon leader Toby Price, has now been shuffled down to 14th place in the general classification.

The Argentine disputed race direction's suggestion that he had been hiding the notes, and suggested that the penalty had been applied retroactively.

“I was penalised for carrying some notes on the bike – Honda told me this was permitted, just not on the roadbook,” he said.

“We took these for several days, some key notes for the roadbook, to mitigate risks because we're risking our lives here.

“Yesterday [Monday] a rider in the neutralised zone recorded the notes on my bike with his phone. His team filed a complaint, and the stewards told us there was no problem yesterday.

“They added a clarification regarding the bike and rider clothing. And today they gave us a three-hour penalty.

“This is something that's not fair, because today we didn't take anything [on my bike]. The team is fighting the verdict.”