2023 Dakar Rally update: Price fourth, Sanders seventh
After seven hotly contested stages, a rest day now beckons before the Aussies begin their final chargeAustralians Toby Price (KTM) and Daniel Sanders (GasGas) have completed the first block of competition in the 2023 Saudi Arabia-hosted Dakar Rally in fourth and seventh positions respectively.
With the annual desert epic now eight stages in ahead of a much-needed rest day, Price is only one minute and 58 seconds (1:58) behind race leader, America's Skyler Howes (Husqvarna), while Sanders is 7:03 adrift after being put through the wringer by food poisoning over the last few days.
Price on the pace
Price, 35, has been a pillar of consistency, and has only finished outside the top six in one stage as he looks to make it three wins in the Dakar Rally following previous successes in 2016 and 2019 – the latter with a broken wrist added into the mix.
“I’m definitely looking forward to the rest day now – time to relax and get sorted for the second week of racing,” said Price.
“I lost a little time today (stage eight) riding up near the front, but my overall position is still decent. We were leaving perfect tracks for the guys behind to follow, so it was inevitable that we would lose some minutes.
“The rocks were super-slippery, too, which meant it was best just to ease off a little rather than risk a crash. A bit of care now can pay off a lot by the end of the race.”
Related:
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Toby Price wins 2019 Dakar Rally!
Sanders soars at Hattah
All stages in this year’s rally have been won by different riders, with Sanders coming up trumps in stage three as the Aussie rode out of his skin on the factory GasGas. The imperious display sling-shotted him into the overall lead, which he held onto in stage four before he came down with an horrific bout of food poisoning that left him running on empty and only beginning to recover by stage eight. The rest day can’t come soon enough…
“I was fortunate to get a bit of a recovery day yesterday (a stage was cancelled because of bad weather), and I used that time to get some rest and I was able to keep what I ate and drank down, so coming into today things were a lot better,” said Sanders.
“We have another rest day tomorrow, so I think going into next week we’ll be much closer to 100 per cent and I’m excited for week two now that I’m feeling a lot more like myself.
“Stage eight was pretty wet! For the riders out first it must have been really bad, and navigating was tough because of the rain and sand on the goggles.”
Tight at the top
Meanwhile, Price’s teammate, Argentine Kevin Benavides, lies 13 seconds behind Howes in second overall, followed by American Mason Klein (KTM) in third. Benavides and Klein are both sitting on exact same total elapsed time, but Klein has sustained an extra minute in penalties.
Six stages remain, starting on January 10 with a 686km journey from Riyadh to Haradh with an abundance of canyon passes and, according to the organiser, a “beautiful chain of dunes”.
In the sports side-by-side class, Aussie Molly Taylor (Can-Am) is running in 11th position. Her co-driver is former motorcycle gun, American Andrew Short.
For all the results from the 2023 Dakar Rally, click here.
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