Another shake up at the front, a surprise stage win – and Toby Price is edging closer to the leaders!
Stage 6 of the 2018 Dakar saw the competitors leave the tough desert sand dunes of Peru and head up into the mountains of Bolivia.
And the change in scenery also brought a change in the weather – the riders have been dealing with the hot dry conditions in the dunes for 5 days and they now found themselves having to deal with rain and snow!
The weather conditions forced the organisers to shorten the special for the bikes, eliminating the first 119 kilometres of timed competition.
- STAGE 6: Arequipa / La Paz
- Liaison > 447 km – Special > 313 km
Riders then started their competitive runs near Lake Titicaca and the remaining 194 kilometres saw an extremely closely-matched fight for victory.
The surprise stage winner was Antoine Meo (Red Bull KTM Factory Team).
Meo has been slowly improving as the days go on and now that the riders are out of the tough sandy conditions he is beginning to show his form and that he has recovered from an injury that kept him away from his official KTM bike for one and a half years. After the retirement of team mate Sam Sunderland, Antoine is now the leading KTM factory rider.
Toby Price (Red Bull KTM Factory Team) finished just 30 seconds behind Meo which has moved him into 5th place overall. Toby seems to have started playing a strategic game, and has moved a whole minute closer to the leaders in the overall standings today.
Fellow Australian Rodney Faggotter (Yamaha) finished the stage in 25th place, 9 min 31 behind the stage winner, and commented “it was definitely a Dakar day today.”
And Scott Britnell has once again shown he can adapt to the conditions finishing the day in 94th to sit in 77th place overall.
The riders have now entered the first of the high altitude stages in the mountains of Bolivia but have the benefit of a rest day in the capital La Paz before proceeding.
Top 5 after Stage 6
- 1. Kevin Benavides (Monster Energy Honda Team)
- 2. Adrien Van Beveren (Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team) – 00:01:57
- 3. Matthias Walkner (Red Bull KTM Factory Team) – 00:03:50
- 4. Joan Barreda Bort (Monster Energy Honda Team) – 00:09:33
- 5. Toby Price (Red Bull KTM Factory Team) – 00:09:39
Australians
- 5. Toby Price (KTM) – 00:09:39
- 18. Rodney Faggotter (Yamaha) – 01:04:45
- 77. Scott Britnell (KTM) – 10:05:11
Want to know more about these riders and drivers – check out our competitor profiles: