In a moment of heartbreak for Australian racer Toby Price, the motorcyclist has been beaten by an agonisingly narrow margin in the final stage of the 2023 Dakar Rally, to take second place to his teammate Kevin Benavides. The Argentine rider was in second place going into the final stage, before riding an electrifying last leg to take the overall victory in 44 hours, 27 minutes and 20 seconds, putting his 43-second margin into frustrating perspective.
Benavides, who joined the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team alongside Price in 2021, was the overall winner of the 2021 Dakar Rally, but failed to finish the 2022 edition after suffering mechanical issues while in 5th position. The off-road specialist clearly didn’t let that setback keep him down, bouncing back this year to begin the final stage in second place behind Price, before taking 55 seconds on his teammate to claim the overall win.
The day began with riders setting off in the reverse order of the overall classification, with Benavides leaving the start line as the 89th rider, followed by the 90th rider in Price just three minutes later. Despite several riders getting stuck in mud after 29kms, both Toby Price and Benavides continued without incident until Price missed a number of waypoints that he had to turn around for, costing him the 2023 Dakar Rally.
RELATED: The Blueprint: Toby Price
“This morning, my head was empty except for each kilometre of the stage, from 0 to 136,” said Benavides about the victory. “It’s incredible to pull off the win at the end of this completely crazy Dakar and with such a small gap. I’m also the first to win with two different motorbike brands, and that makes me very proud.”
Price was disappointed with the result, but pleased for his teammate stating, “the first point is disappointment. We’ve come so far, but look, Kevin’s done a great job. Just a little frustrated that, on the last day, they played with these 20-meter rules for the waypoints, and I had to turn back and get three of them.
“Yeah, hard to take at the moment, but at the end of the day I’m going home in one piece, and we got a Dakar trophy. It hurts a little bit. Kevin said he only had to turn back for one waypoint. I think the two waypoints I missed kind of cost us the race.”
American rider Skyler Howes rounded out the podium racing for the Husqvarna factory team, while the next best-placed Australian rider was Daniel Sanders who finished in 7th place nearly 26 minutes behind.
