Price slips in stage three
The Aussie's Dakar Rally campaign stuttered a little, thanks to early GPS problems and then car, spectator and animal problems…Australia's Toby Price (KTM) has lost his leadership of the 2016 Dakar Rally after finishing a lowly 37th in the shortened stage three, which took riders and drivers 663km from Termas de Río Hondo to San Salvadore de Jujuy.
Price got into difficulties with his GPS in the opening part of the timed special, and then after a period of consolidation he ran into some problems with cars, spectators and animals on the track.
“That killed the confidence a bit so I backed it off because I didn’t want to cartwheel or hit anything," said Price. "But it’s a long race and today cost me a bit of time but I’m still in a good overall position and I’m happy about that. We’re still good and we’ll sort it out tomorrow.”
Price is now 10th overall, five minutes and three seconds (5:03) behind Portugal's Joan Barreda, who won stage three ahead of fellow Honda riders Kevin Benavides and Paolo Goncalves.
Stefan Svitko (KTM) is second overall, 14 seconds behind Barreda, followed by Benavides (0:48), Goncalves (1:08) and Alain Duclos (Sherco, 1:10).
Wednesday’s opening stage of the marathon where riders are not allowed any assistance from mechanics and teams is a loop around San Salvadore de Jujuy over another long distance of 629km. Assuming the tricky weather allows it, the stage will include a timed special of 429km.
Riders will also be competing in an average altitude of 3500m. There will also be a lot of changes of pace so plenty of new challenges for this year’s title contenders.
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