Toby Price stages last-ditch Dakar attack

Toby Price has staged a last-ditch attack on American Ricky Brabec’s lead in the penultimate stage of the Dakar Rally but failed to make up enough time.

The Australian two-time Dakar winner attacked early and clawed back almost six minutes on the Honda rider who seemed to take it easy.

Toby’s attack placed him fifth on the 379km special stage that included about 80km of sand dunes. It was the second part of a two-day marathon stage with no outside help for the riders.

Top 5 finishers on stage 11

POS.	N°	EXP.	DRIVE-TEAM	MARK-MODEL	TIME	VARIATION	PENALITY
1	5		PABLO QUINTANILLA	ROCKSTAR ENERGY HUSQVARNA FACTORY RACING	04H 09′ 22”
2	2		MATTHIAS WALKNER	RED BULL KTM FACTORY TEAM	04H 09′ 31”	+ 00H 00′ 09”
3	16		LUCIANO BENAVIDES	RED BULL KTM FACTORY TEAM	04H 12′ 10”	+ 00H 02′ 48”
4	17		JOSE IGNACIO CORNEJO FLORIMO	MONSTER ENERGY HONDA TEAM 2020	04H 12′ 15”	+ 00H 02′ 53”
5	1		TOBY PRICE	RED BULL KTM FACTORY TEAM	04H 15′ 11”	+ 00H 05′ 49”

The leading KTM rider is now third overall with only the largely ceremonial final stage to come tomorrow.

That would mean Ricky becomes the first American to win the Dakar and also end KTM’s record winning streak of 18.

Toby had said he was “comforted” by the fact that he virtually sacrificed his third rally win by being the first to stop for fallen rider Paulo Goncalves in the seventh stage.

Sadly Paulo later died and the eighth stage was cancelled in his honour, leaving less opportunity for Toby to make up time.

Toby’s likely podium finish is still a very commendable feat.

“It’s been a good stage and at the moment Honda just needs to protect their lead,” he says.

“The guys are riding fast and riding smart. It’s definitely making it hard for us to try and make up that gap.

“We’re doing our best, we’re trying to keep in the fight. We’ve only got one more day to go. We’re at the end of day eleven.”div class=”videoWrapper”>

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Top 5 outright rankings

POS.	N°	EXP.	DRIVE-TEAM	MARK-MODEL	TIME	VARIATION	PENALITY
1	9		RICKY BRABEC	MONSTER ENERGY HONDA TEAM 2020	38H 33′ 28”
2	5		PABLO QUINTANILLA	ROCKSTAR ENERGY HUSQVARNA FACTORY RACING	38H 47′ 24”	+ 00H 13′ 56”
3	1		TOBY PRICE	RED BULL KTM FACTORY TEAM	38H 56′ 02”	+ 00H 22′ 34”	00H 02′ 00”
4	2		MATTHIAS WALKNER	RED BULL KTM FACTORY TEAM	39H 03′ 21”	+ 00H 29′ 53”
5	12		JOAN BARREDA BORT	MONSTER ENERGY HONDA TEAM 2020	39H 03′ 37”	+ 00H 30′ 09”

Other Aussies

Other Aussies have also performed well throughout the rally while more than 50 competitors have dropped out from crashes or mechanical failure.

Mr Consistency, Rodney Faggotter (Yamaha, Queensland) has finished all but yesterday’s stage in the top 20.

He finished today in 19th place and is ranked 13th outright.

On the previous stage he stopped to help a crashed rider and was given the time back by the officials.

That have him an outstanding best sixth place on the 10th stage.

Fellow Aussies Ben Young (KTM), Matthew Tisdall (KTM) and Brisbane schoolteacher Trevor Wilson have also done well to keep going.

Ben finished 58th which would be his best result yet. It puts him at 57th outright in his second Dakar.

Trevor finished in 8oth position and is now 76th outright, while Matt was 94th and is now 96th and last.

For the first time the Dakar rally is being run in the one country, Saudi Arabia, after being run in 35 countries on three continents since 1978.

Toby aids firefighters