Toby Price may have a broken leg, but he certainly doesn’t have a broken spirit.
The 29 year old from Singleton in NSW was going for his second consecutive win in the Dakar but crashed heavily just 45km from the end of the 4th stage last Thursday night (Australian time).
He is now in his fourth day in hospital and recovering from surgery to repair his left femur that was broken in 4 places.
Toby has posted to his website for the first time since the crash, giving an insight into what happened and what’s next for the Aussie champion.
“All I can remember is hitting something hard, it was in a river bed and I’m sure as anything it would have been a rock. The last bit I remember is been (sic) face down into the ground after flying through the air and seeing the rocks go under me pretty quick.”
“I landed and pretty much was just in a daze for a while, I’m not sure time frame wise but some people came running over and basically just helped me and checked if I was alright and I remember seeing Paulo Goncalves above me doing the same.”
“I’m not too sure how the long the helicopter took to get me but I knew I broke my leg by then. It started to get painful and my leg wouldn’t move, so it was a helicopter ride back to the stage base, an airplane ride back to La Paz and then into an ambulance, but the road was that rough I needed to get strapped in and have another injection and that’s all I remember.”
“This is only a small hurdle in the road as a broken leg, so we will go again and it’ll be all good.”
Toby’s KTM 450 Rally Replica after the crash.Toby has also revealed he’s been having seizures, which his doctors believe may be due to a potential blood clot in his lung.
“I’ve had a couple of rough nights here in La Paz, the language barrier has been extremely challenging and I suffered a seizure which has rocked me a little bit but the specialist is working hard to target the trigger to this and they are suspecting this was due to a blood clot in my lung.”
Despite being out of this year’s event and seriously injured, Toby remains positive.
He’s been visited by some of his Australian friends travelling with the Dakar and the KTM team dropped by as well.
Once his condition is stabilised he should be clear to return to Australia, where he can be reassessed and begin rehabilitation.
He says he’s aiming to be up on his feet in the next 24 hours and take a walk on his leg, and if all goes well begin to plan the trip home.
“It’s going to be a long road back to 100% but one thing for sure is, I know I need to be back on the KTM motorcycle in 4 months so I will be doing all I can to make this happen.”
He is grateful of the support and well wishes he is receiving from his partnerships, fans, family and friends from Australia and around the world.
Australian Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo has been one of the many people to wish him well.
“You guys have been making my days fly and the support from everyone has been incredible.”