In a display of gritted determination and riding skill, Australia’s Toby Price took a historic second victory at the 2019 Dakar Rally. His win for KTM came despite riding with a broken scaphoid, and gives the Austrian brand it’s 18th victory on the bounce. The 450 Rally machine which Price was pilotting has given the manufacturer nine straight victories for KTM since the capacity change in for the 2011 event. Price last won the event in 2016 for KTM
KTM totally dominated the podium with last years winner Matthias Walkner – also battling injury – taking the runner up spot and 2016 victor Sam Sunderland in third place for the UK.
It was also good news for sister brand Husqvarna, with Pablo Quintanilla taking a fantastic fourth ahead of his team mate and Andrew Short.
While for Short, a relatively new convert to rally riding after years of success within AMA motocross and Supercross, the result was a fantastic endorsement of his riding skills in just his second Dakar, Quintanilla’s final position was perhaps the more impressive. The Chilean rider was only around one minute behind Price going into the final stage of the rally, but hit an unexpected drop off in the final throes of the epic race. Incredibly, Quintanilla landed the jump, but the impact had broken his ankle and he crashed soon after. Against all the odds, the Husqvarna rider shook himself down and remounted to finish the rally ignoring what must have been astounding pain.
For the other brands, it was a case of close but no cigar. Honda’s Joan Barreda started well but crashed out while his American team mate Ricky Brabec had the agony of a mechanical failure when he was leading the rally. Jose Florimo took Honda’s best result with seventh.
For Yamaha, a mechanical just 20 km from the finish also put pay to Adrien Van Beveren’s hopes, compunding his misfortune in last year’s rally when a crash in stage 10 robbed him of the lead and ended his race. Rodney Fagotter also battled against mechanical issues despite early promise, but Yamaha’s French rider Xavier Soultrait put in an great effort to salvage a creditable sixth place for the manufacturer.
KTM’s Laia Sanz took an astounding 11th place and confirms her place as one of the rally elite in such a punishing race, able to compete with and beat some of the best riders on the planet.
But the final word has to go to Price, who showerd the grit and determination needed to conquer this iconic race.
“Pretty much all I can say is that it feels like there are about five people driving a knife in my wrist now,” said Price after his historic win.
“Now I’ll just wait and see what damage I’ve done to my wrist. At the end of the day, the pain and torture has been worth it.”
Legend.
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