Toby Price:
Flavien Duhamel / Red Bull
The sandy plateaus between Salta and Belén dealt a cru-
el blow. Frontrunners; Price, Benavides, Meo and Joan
Berreda Bort (Honda) took to a Rio (dry river bed) which
they all thought was the correct route. It proved to be
wrong and the foursome all lost 50 minutes. Price could
finish only as high as 19th place. Still 5th outright he re-
mained positive with the knowledge that had he not made
the mistake he would now only be 1 minute from the lead.
“You never know in the Dakar, it’s tough, but that’s the
way it is. I’ve just got to try and see what the rest of the
week will bring now.”
What happened next can only be described as stagger-
ing. Price went on a charge and immediately set about
reducing the time deficit. Stage 11, Belén to Chileceto,
saw the Australia slash 11 minutes out of the lead held by
his KTM teammate, Matthias Walkner. The stage win, saw
Price now just 39 minutes from the lead. And with three
stages remaining it looked very likely that KTM would take
their 17th straight Dakar victory and Price his second out
of four attempts.
As excited as his fans became they were quickly
crushed when the Dakar organisers cancelled stage 12 due
to extremely weather forecasts. Price, and his KTM team,
looked dejected as it dawned on them what this meant. In
hindsight, it was the correct decision, the conditions were
far too dangerous.
The Dakar resumed in
San Juan and the challenge
was on, Price needed to do
something extraordinary
if he was to win his second
event.
Immediately he set the
pace and things looked promising. The 424 of competi-
tive, over 900km in total, gave witness to outstanding rid-
ing. It is fair to say that Walkner was perhaps consolidat-
ing his lead and not taking risks, but this allowed Price to
close in even further.
Another stage win, and another 11-minute gap to
Walkner, saw the overall lead by the Austrian reduced to
just 27 minutes. Benavides sat between the two KTM’s.
For Price, with one stage remaining, it now seemed like
unsurmountable task.
The Dakar 2018 final stage, a loop of just 120km around
the Córdoba region, wasn’t enough. Walkner was secure
in the lead, he would be the one to give KTM their out-
standing record. Behind the Austrian a battle still raged,
Price knew he could still make it a KTM one-two if he
could just pass Benavides.
The Australian and Argentine dueled to the end in an
enthralling battle that saw both riding at their limits. At
the finish just 54 seconds separated the pair. Benavides
the victor.
Two stage wins, a second place on the final stage and
third overall. Price was ecstatic with his third place on
comeback from possible race ending injuries. Four Da-
kar’s and three podiums from all the races he’s finished.
“All in all, I’m really pumped to be at the finish,” Price
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