Toby Price was one of the standout performers in the 48-hour stage of Dakar 2024. The rider finished the sixth stage in second place, 4m13s behind the fastest, Adrien van Beveren (Monster Energy Honda), and is in fifth position overall, exactly 27 minutes behind the leader.
The Australian, who is the top rider for Red Bull KTM at this point, spoke about a stage that was more challenging than anticipated: ‘The marathon stage has definitely been a little tougher than we thought it was going to be. It was such a long day yesterday – we did about 513km in the dunes and raced for around six hours and 40 minutes! At the bivouac, we were just given a sleeping bag, a tent, a small box of food rations and tried to get some sleep. Today was good – just 112km – and it felt great to reach the finish line. We all deserve our rest day, that’s for sure’.
Although he admits he is not positioned as desired, Price ensured that he had good feelings in this first week, expressing confidence for the remaining Dakar stages: ‘Overall, at the end of this first week, I’m feeling good, and the bike has been faultless. We’re not quite where we’d hoped we would be in terms of time, but there’s still a whole second week to go, so we’re ready for it’.