Price just falls short of victory in marathon stage
Toby Price finished a close second to Adrien van Beveren in the marathon two day stage 6 of the 2024 Dakar Rally.
After 835km split across two days Price finished just four minutes behind van Beveren.
At the halfway mark of the stage the KTM rider sat third with Ricky Brabec also ahead but the Aussie surged ahead on the Friday.
Brabec ended up third splitting the Aussies with Daniel Sanders coming in a strong fourth just under two minutes behind the American.
Despite falling short of stage victory, Price has now clawed his way into the top five in the overall classification led by Brabec.
With just six stages to go the 2016 and 2019 Dakar Rally winner is 27 minutes away from the top.
Even though Price finished the first week strong, he described his rally so far as “average” but is not giving up on chasing a third victory.
“The first week has been pretty average for me,” Price said.
“We are still within reach a little bit but I did not want to be this far back within the first week.
“All in all we are still on two wheels and in the race and the body feels good on the bike so we will see what the second week brings.”
As for Sanders, his fourth place in the stage continued his steady climb up the rankings into seventh, 35 minutes away from leader Brabec.
Daniel Sanders is happy to reach the finish line of opening week at Dakar.
Image Marcelo Maragni / Red Bull Content Pool
The GasGas rider is simply happy to survive the opening week and make it to the rest day.
“The 6A and 6B were two very long days,” Sanders said.
“Yesterday was one of the toughest stages we have done with not much sleep or food.
“Luckily we got a fair bit through the stage and had a quick sprint this morning but happy to make the finish.
“The body is just in one piece still and the final week is going to be just as tough.”
In the cars Sebastien Loeb took an important win with a strong finish to the two-day stage.
Although Loeb sat third, more than five minutes behind the Audis of Carlos Sainz Senior and Mattias Ekstrom, he flew home.
The Frenchman overhauled them both to take a two-minute stage win over Sainz to soar to third in the overall standings.
But there were mixed feelings in the Prodrive camp as the hopes of defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah took a hit.
Al-Attiyah was looking good for a top five result before a stoppage at the 530km mark due to a broken steering bearing.
He eventually finished but only after seeing his deficit grow to 21 minutes.
With Saturday being a well deserved rest day, the rally resumes on Sunday with a 483km journey between Riyadh and Al Duwadimi.
Main image Florent Gooden / DPPI / Red Bull Content Pool
2024 Dakar Rally Bikes classification
2024 Dakar Rally Bikes classification
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