Dakar leader Price says broken wrist is 'on fire'

The 2016 Dakar champ broke his right scaphoid during pre-event training midway through December, the injury requiring surgery and leaving him under a fitness cloud for the gruelling Dakar.

Having battled through the discomfort thus far, Price reckons today's push to take over the overall lead of the event in the wake of Ricky Brabec's engine failure was a huge test for the injury.

And while he got through it, he says the wrist was on fire at the finish.

“Today, I knew it had to count. That was my maximum today, so any more than that, well… I can’t do any more," he said.

"My wrist is on fire now. It’s been a long stage, 360 kilometres, but we’ve made it here to the finish and there’s just two more to go – this is a good thing.

"You’ve just got to somehow shut [the pain] off. There’s times when you can rest it and when you can’t, but it’s just difficult.

"But when you throw your helmet on and you go and ride your bike, you just want to do the best you can, and try and do it all again."

Price leads the bike class by 1m03s over Husqvarna rider Pablo Quintanilla, while fellow KTM riders Matthias Walkner and Sam Sunderland are 6m35s and 6m38s behind respectively.