Breaking news
Dakar Dakar
The trick that helped injured Price conquer Dakar
It took a makeshift device – that held his KTM's throttle open on liaison stages – to get an injured Toby Price through to a remarkable second Dakar victory.
Andrew van Leeuwen
Edited: Jan 18, 2019, 5:40 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Price went into the event under a serious injury cloud after breaking his right scaphoid during pre-Dakar training last December, undergoing last-minute surgery in Spain and a short recovery in his native Australia – not enough for the injury to heal – before getting to Peru.
However the KTM rider defied the odds by not only making it through the gruelling event, but claiming a second career win in stunning style.
Dealing with unrelenting pain from the injured wrist, Price has now revealed the lengths he went to in getting to the finish.
While having to "grit the teeth" through the competitive stages, some crafty modifications using parts from the KTM's battery cage helped stick his bike's throttle open on liaison stages, offering crucial periods of rest for his wrist.
He was also forced into using his left arm to operate the throttle at times.
"Through the liaison, there's a little bit of a trick I used from what holds the battery in the battery cage," said Price.
"[We] basically just ran a thing around the outside of the grip and it kind of just made the throttle stick a little bit so I could rest my arm a lot more on liaison rides.
"There have been some stages where I actually had to do a bit of left-hand throttle; it's not the best way to be riding a bike.
"But we made it work, we made it to the finish line, we survived. It's a crazy feeling."
Read Also:
- Al-Attiyah seals Toyota's first Dakar win
- Nikolaev and Kamaz win third Dakar in a row
- Cavigliasso takes dominant Dakar quad title
Finishing the rally wasn't something even Price himself expected to do, the Aussie admitting he thought he'd be headed home after a couple of days.
"I honestly thought if I could get to stage three and then pack up and go home, I was going to be happy with that," he said.
"Stage three, we all kind of got lost, we all had a bad day, and it made me put the helmet back on and go again.
"The rest day was good for us, it was pretty much on the limit there and the rest day gave me the day off to get a solid day of resting and sort it out.
"After that, it was trying to charge on and grit the teeth. The last five days have been a very, very big struggle."
Having said the wrist was "on fire" following his push into the lead with two stages to go, Price was equally unable to hide his discomfort come the end of the event.
But, he did admit the sweet taste of victory would help ease the pain.
"Pretty much all I can say is that it feels like there are about five people driving a knife in my wrist now," he said.
"It’s not very comfortable, it’s not very enjoyable, but at the end of the day the victory has paid off. I’ll forget about the pain now, that’s for sure. The win takes away all the pain."
When the celebrations are done Price will have his wrist assessed for further damage.
"I guess I'll go and get some MRI scans and CT scans and x-rays and see what damage we've done and where we'll situate ourselves for the rest of the year," he added.
"Hopefully I'll still have a wrist after this, hopefully they don't chop the thing off."
Additional reporting by Sergio Lillo
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Dakar boss wants three countries in 2020
Next article Sunderland gets Dakar podium after penalty withdrawal
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Andrew van Leeuwen
Toby Price explains 'unfortunate' Mitsubishi split
Dakar
Dakar
Dakar
Toby Price explains 'unfortunate' Mitsubishi split
Supercars parity review begins
Supercars
Supercars
Supercars parity review begins
SRO set for bigger Australian GT presence
GT World Challenge Australia
GT World Challenge Australia
SRO set for bigger Australian GT presence
More from
Toby Price
Toby Price wins record ninth Finke Desert Race
Offroad
Offroad
Toby Price wins record ninth Finke Desert Race
Toby Price teases Red Bull F1 filming
Formula 1
Formula 1
Toby Price teases Red Bull F1 filming
Price upgrades Trophy Truck for Baja 1000 tilt
Offroad
Offroad
Price upgrades Trophy Truck for Baja 1000 tilt
Latest news
Spy shots of 2027 NASCAR Ford Mustang testing at Charlotte, but what's different?
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
2 h
Spy shots of 2027 NASCAR Ford Mustang testing at Charlotte, but what's different?
Five key takeaways from F1's big African Grand Prix reveal in Rwanda
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 3 h
Five key takeaways from F1's big African Grand Prix reveal in Rwanda
Niels Koolen makes switch to Abel Motorsports ahead of 2027 Indy NXT campaign
Indy NXT
IndL Indy NXT 4 h
Niels Koolen makes switch to Abel Motorsports ahead of 2027 Indy NXT campaign
GT World Challenge Portimao: All you need to know about season finale featuring Max Verstappen
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 5 h
GT World Challenge Portimao: All you need to know about season finale featuring Max Verstappen
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe