Photo: KTM Racing
It was all going so well for the Red Bull KTM factory team so far in the Dakar Rally, but, unfortunately, Toby Price, who was the 2016 winner, crashed out of the race during the final stretch of a long and difficult fourth stage yesterday.
The Australian fell hard just after successfully hunting down current race leader Joan Barreda of Spain. However, his teammate Matthias Walkner continued the stage and finished just over two minutes ahead overall leader Barreda.
"I got to him about five minutes after the crash, and Adrien Van Beveren and Paulo Goncalves had already stopped,” Walkner commented on Toby’s crash. “I saw he was awake and they told me he was more or less okay, so I kept on going. Where he crashed, it was in a riverbed, where the ground changed very quickly. First it was sandy, and you could go flat out at 140 km/h, but then you came to some big stones, and it’s very hard to find the right speed. If you hit a stone with the motorbike then its difficult.”
Toby Price, who won the second stage but then lost time at the beginning of Wednesday’s Stage 3 after a navigational error, had been working hard to catch Barreda. He had just got in front of him when he crashed in a riverbed at the 371 km mark.
The medical team said he had fractured the thighbone in his left leg when he was only a few kilometers from Tupiza in southern Bolivia, where the stage finished. The factory team later confirmed Price was being transported to the capital La Paz for further treatment.
Stage 5 continues north on the Bolivian Altiplano where riders can expect a vast range of terrain and organizers say this part will be one of the most demanding. Two challenging dune sectors are awaiting them at the end of the 447 km timed special, and they will have to ride for a total of 692 km to get to the finish at Oruro.
"I got to him about five minutes after the crash, and Adrien Van Beveren and Paulo Goncalves had already stopped,” Walkner commented on Toby’s crash. “I saw he was awake and they told me he was more or less okay, so I kept on going. Where he crashed, it was in a riverbed, where the ground changed very quickly. First it was sandy, and you could go flat out at 140 km/h, but then you came to some big stones, and it’s very hard to find the right speed. If you hit a stone with the motorbike then its difficult.”
Toby Price, who won the second stage but then lost time at the beginning of Wednesday’s Stage 3 after a navigational error, had been working hard to catch Barreda. He had just got in front of him when he crashed in a riverbed at the 371 km mark.
The medical team said he had fractured the thighbone in his left leg when he was only a few kilometers from Tupiza in southern Bolivia, where the stage finished. The factory team later confirmed Price was being transported to the capital La Paz for further treatment.
Stage 5 continues north on the Bolivian Altiplano where riders can expect a vast range of terrain and organizers say this part will be one of the most demanding. Two challenging dune sectors are awaiting them at the end of the 447 km timed special, and they will have to ride for a total of 692 km to get to the finish at Oruro.
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