Dakar 2024: Toby's Stage 7-9 Recap! 🌵
Stage 7: 7th
Overall: 6th
As the second rider to enter stage seven, Price soon caught up with the one rider ahead of him and assisted in opening the special.
Despite not making too many errors, and accumulating close to four minutes in bonus time, Price ultimately lost out on the rider behind following in his wheel tracks.
“A tough day for me in the longest stage of this year’s race. I rode well but it was hard to make good time from the front as the navigation was really tricky; it meant the guys starting later on were able to make up quite a lot of ground and that cost us in the results.”
Stage 8: 5th
Overall: 6th
Delivering another solid stage performance, Price held his own through the first half of the day, before steadily closing in on the leaders over the second, rougher half of the special.
Finishing 5th Price will enjoy a strong start position for Tuesday’s stage 9, giving him another excellent opportunity to chase down the riders ahead and claw back time on the provisional leaders.
“Stage 8 we got through pretty decently. No major mishaps or mistakes or anything today, so on that side it was good. The first half was all dunes and sand, then after a long liaison we went into the second part of the stage, which was all stones and off-piste tracks and stuff. The caps were a little harder to follow but it felt like we did a pretty decent job there too.”
Stage 9: 4th
Overall: 6th
A small mistake in Stage 9 unfortunately cost the Aussie several minutes as he made his way back to the correct route.
However, with other riders making similar errors, Price was able to get his head down and deliver a solid pace from there to the finish.
Completing the day in 4th, Price retains his sixth-place position in the provisional overall standings.
“The terrain was tricky – there were lots of rocks, but in the sun, it made it hard to see properly and judge what was lying ahead. I made one small mistake on one WPC and lost some time, but other than that, everything went smoothly.”
