Toby Price (KTM) is proving “it’s not over ’til it’s over”.
After a disastrous 10th stage yesterday he has bounced back with a stage win and has taken 11 minutes out of team mate Matthias Walkner’s lead.
Fellow Australians Scott Britnell (KTM) and Rodney Faggotter (Yamaha) have also had a good day. A 50th place in the stage has boosted Scott to 57th overall, and Rodney is now holding down 18th after a 16th place in the stage.
- STAGE 11: Belén / Fiambalá / Chilecito
- Liaison > 205 km – Special > 280 km
Toby Price: “Yesterday was… I’ve never felt so bad in my life.”
“Today we just needed to try and see if we could claw back a little bit of time, and I think we’ve done that a little bit, but it’s gonna be tough from back where we are.”
“It’s good to get a stage win. In the first week I was quite conservative, but now I attacked some more, it’s good to get a stage win because I hadn’t done that this year so far.”
“To be still in the race going towards the finish line is a pretty big achievement for me.”
“My goal is just trying to stay on two wheels, not making a day like yesterday and seeing what that gives us at the finish line.”
The 11th stage also claimed another big name – Joan Barreda decided to withdraw after a difficult start to today’s stage.
The Spaniard, exhausted after yesterday’s difficult stage and nursing a knee injury for the last four days, has withdrawn from the rally despite sitting in second place.
He had lost over 6 minutes at the 50km mark, and also stopped for a few minutes at 100 km.
While the chances of Toby being able to reduce the gap to leader Matthias Walkner enough to take an overall win might be slight, today’s effort has shown he is still competitive at this stage of the event.
And this is the Dakar, so who knows what will happen tomorrow!
Top 5 after Stage 11
- 1. Matthias Walkner (Red Bull KTM Factory Team)
- 2. Kevin Benavides (Monster Energy Honda Team) – 00:32:00
- 3. Toby Price (Red Bull KTM Factory Team) – 00:39:17
- 4. Gerard Farres Guell (Himoinsa Racing Team) – 00:49:17
- 5. Antoine Meo (Red Bull KTM Factory Team) – 00:59:05
Australians
- 3. Toby Price (Red Bull KTM Factory Team) – 00:39:17
- 18. Rodney Faggotter (Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team) – 03:21:14
- 61. Scott Britnell (KTM) – 20:33:33
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