IN
THE
WIND
P46
DAKAR 2017: WEEK ONE RECAP
T
he world's toughest off-
road race has certainly
lived up to its moniker as
Dakar 2017 ends week
one in South America with
no defending champion,
a Honda team in disarray
and America's hopes of a
maiden win slim at best.
By the end of stage
seven, it was factory
Red Bull KTM rider Sam
Sunderland who headed
the pack ahead of Chilean
Pablo Quintanilla of the
Husqvarna Factory Rally
Racing Team. The impres-
sive young Frenchman
Adrien Van Beveren (Ya-
malube Yamaha Official Rally Team)
stands third, less than five minutes
out of second. Despite an impres-
sive win in the most recent stage by
Honda's Ricky Brabec, the American
rider is 14th in the overall standings at
the halfway point.
Yet the biggest news of the rally
so far has been two-fold, with 2016
champion Toby Price (Red Bull
KTM) crashing out on stage four and
breaking his leg, and the team that
would be kings—HRC Honda Rally—
receiving a staggering one-hour
penalty for each of its riders (Joan
Barreda, Paulo Goncalves, Michael
Metge and Brabec) due to refueling
in a forbidden area on stage four.
Price started off the rally slowly,
ending stage one in 17th place
behind first-time Dakar stage winner,
Yamaha's Xavier De Soultrait. But the
Australian made up for it on stage
two, taking a commanding victory
and turning a 90 second deficit into
a three-minute lead in the overall
standings.
From there, however, Price's rally
started to unravel, with navigational
issues costing him 20 minutes and
dropping him to fifth behind stage-
three winner and new rally leader,
Barreda. Stage four saw Price in full
attack mode as he attempted to claw
back the deficit to Barreda and Team
HRC, but the Australian came to
grief just a few miles from the day's
finish, crashing out and suffering
four breaks to his femur. His injury
has been complicated by a number
of seizures in the Bolivian hospital,
caused by an apparent blood clot on
his lung.
"All I can remember is hitting
(Above) Stage four was
a disaster for Toby Price.
The defending Dakar
champ is out with a
broken femur.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
KTM/MARCIN
KIN
