A crash and a couple of mistakes could not deny Australia's Toby Price from leading the Dakar Rally into the final day.
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Price is 12 seconds ahead of his Red Bull KTM teammate Kevin Benavides, the closest gap on the final day in Dakar history, after the Argentinian won Stage 13 finishing two minutes and 28 seconds ahead of Price who was fifth.
"Well we've made it to the final stage of the Dakar after a solid Stage 13, I really wanted to push to keep this outright lead going into tomorrow which we did," Price posted on Facebook after the stage.
"I actually had a crash today and made a couple of mistakes, I honestly thought I made a bit of a mess of it all I just knew I had to push hard, get that bonus time and give it large One more day to go, wish me luck."
In an interview after the stage Price said: "I made one little mistake around 130. We went too far right and I took a fall while looking at the top of a dune.
"At this stage here, you need to push to keep the lead. The last days, the dunes have been really soft, you can get stuck very easily.
"It was really difficult to try and keep on the cap heading. I caught the guys around 90 and just thought to myself, 'If I want to win this race, I need to be at the front and try and capture that bonus a little bit'. I'm happy, I've put a 100 per cent in every day."
Unless there is a final day catastrophe, the 2023 winner will come from either the two Red Bull riders or rival American Skyler Howes who finished seventh on the stage on his Husqvarna and is now one minute 31 seconds behind Price.
There is a further 14 minute break to their closest rival Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren and his Monster Energy Honda teammate Pablo Quintanilla from Chile.
Australia's Daniel Sanders is seventh overall sitting 22m24s behind Price.
Benavides spent 23 minutes with Matthias Walkner, his teammate and winner of the 2018 Dakar, while waiting for a helicopter to take the injured Austrian to hospital.
The stop was deducted from his stage time but it was still a tremendous effort to get back on his bike and cut Price's lead.
Top 10 after Stage 8
- Toby Price (Aus)
- Kevin Benavides (Arg) +12s
- Skyler Howes (USA) +1m31s
- Adrien Van Beveren (Fra) +15m51s
- Pablo Quintanilla (Chl) +15m59s
- Luciano Benavides (Arg) +18m29s
- Daniel Sanders (Aus) +22m34s
- Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo (Chl) +28m28s
- Lorenzo Satolino (Esp) +1h28m28s
- Franco Caimi (Arg) +Ih30m12s
Previously
- Toby Price leads Dakar Rally with two stages to go
- Price third in 2023 Dakar Rally after playing it safe in dunes
- Toby Price three seconds off lead after Stage 9 of Dakar Rally
- Australia's Toby Price fourth at halfway mark of 2023 Dakar Rally
- Toby Price second despite crash and getting lost on stage 5 of Dakar Rally
- Aussie Daniel Sanders leads Dakar Rally as Toby Price climbs to fifth
- Aussie Daniel Sanders wins stage 3 to lead Dakar Rally, Toby Price sixth
- Toby Price third after reigning champ Sunderland crashes on day one of Dakar Rally
Michael Hartshorn
Since starting in 1985 at the then Melbourne Herald, journalism has taken me around Australia from Victoria, to the Northern Territory, Cairns in Queensland and now Port Stephens. After all those years there is still something special about informing and connecting with readers.
Since starting in 1985 at the then Melbourne Herald, journalism has taken me around Australia from Victoria, to the Northern Territory, Cairns in Queensland and now Port Stephens. After all those years there is still something special about informing and connecting with readers.
