Dakar 2017 Stage Four roundup
Defending Dakar bikes champion, Australian Toby Price, has crashed out of the fourth stage of the rally, ending his title defence.
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 new rally leader Joan Barreda when the crash occurred.
He had just got in front of him when he crashed in a riverbed at the 371 km mark. The medical team reported 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.
It’s a crushing blow for the Aussie, but the KTM team still had reason to celebrate with Price’s teammate Matthias Walkner taking the win from Barreda by just over two minutes.
This has the KTM rider sitting in third place overall, but it is Barreda who is still the man to beat with an overall lead of 18 minutes and 19 seconds over second placed Husqvarna rider Pablo Quintanilla.
Stage 5 will continue north on the Bolivian Altiplano. Riders can expect a vast range of terrain and organizers say the stage will be one of the most demanding. There will be two challenging dune sectors in the final kilometers of the 447 km timed special and they will ride for a total of 692 km to get to the stop at Oruro. After this long day, they only have one more stage before the one rest day in La Paz.
Dakar bike rankings at the end of Stage 4
- Joan Barreda – Honda
- Pablo Quintanilla – Husqvarna
- Matthias Walkner – KTM
- Stefan Svitko – KTM
- Sam Sunderland – KTM
