Hillston’s own Toby Price will be looking to push through the pain of a mending broken bone in his wrist as he prepares to tackle on of the toughest sporting events in the Dakar Rally which gets underway on Monday.
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Despite the wrist issues, Price has completed his final preparations and is confident of reclaiming the title he won in 2016 despite the soreness.
“Final shakedown is done, stoked with the KTM Factory Racing rally bike,” Price posted on Facebook along with a video of the practice session.
“Wrist is a little sore but I think I’ll make the distance, it’s all or nothing!”
He is heading into the challenging event in great form which saw him become the first Australian to win the World Cross-Country Rallies Championship with victory in the final round in Morocco last month.
“The world championship didn’t start quite like I would have hoped, but I was able to keep my head together, stay consistent and the results finally came,” Price said after his break-through win.
“Everything clicked in Morocco at that final round and I’m hoping for something similar in Peru.
“It’s going to be a bit of a strange Dakar, the route looks like about 70 percent is in the dunes and it’s going to be a real challenge, certainly no time to relax.
“In the past there have been days where you can pace yourself and still get a good result by concentrating on navigation and riding smooth – on this one I think it’s going to be flat-out from the very beginning.”
Price finished third in the 2018 Dakar in his first major race on the comeback trail from multiple injuries in the 2017 event.
He is part of a strong Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team riding alongside 2018 Dakar champion Matthias Walkner, Sam Sunderland and Luciano Benavides.
