IN
THE
WIND
P46
three miles of the finish. He
would have crossed the line with
a 40-minute lead over his rival,
Kevin Benavides, but was instead
helicoptered out with a broken
collarbone, broken ribs and a
pulmonary contusion.
Quite the rivalry was shaping
up between Benavides and Van
Beveren until the infamous stage
10, but unlike his Yamaha rival,
Benavides was able to get his
Honda to the finish and on the
podium. The Monster Energy
Honda rider became the first
Argentine rider to lead the rally
(holding the overall lead after
stage 6), and received a hero's
welcome at the finish when he
won the final stage of the rally.
His second-place finish was
about all he could hope for,
even though he shrunk the gap
to Walkner from 41:23 down to
16:53 by the end. It was a strong
push to the finish, and enough
to let him know an overall win is
within his reach.
"I feel amazing," said Bena-
vides. "This sensation for me is
incredible. To win is my dream so
I touched it a little bit. We need to
continue pushing and pushing for
next year. Now I know I can do it,
so I'll continue preparing and try
to do it."
For Toby Price, an overall
podium was pretty close to a win
for him, as well. After spending
most of 2017 recovering from a
badly broken femur (suffered in
last year's Dakar Rally), Price
wasn't even sure he'd be able to
compete in the 2018 running, let
alone land on the podium.
"After the year I've had, it's
a dream come true, for sure,"
Price explained. "Twelve weeks
ago it was looking pretty grim.
Six weeks ago I started training
and riding. It's a steep curve
again. I'm happy to get to the
finish line; that was always the
main goal."
For Dakar rookie Andrew
Short, he accomplished his goal
of reaching the finish, and did so
as the top American, despite a
number of high-speed crashes.
Following his finish, Short
revealed on Instagram, "Fairly
certain I broke my ankle in yes-
terday's crash at the beginning of
the stage (13)." His consistency
and his steady improvement
throughout the rally were note-
worthy, as was his fight to the
finish.
"I'm so happy to make it to the
finish," said Short. "That was
a very tough 14 days of rac-
ing. I knew I would have some
crashes, but to have four at
high-speed is something I didn't
expect. I thought my overall pace
would be a little better, but I have
come away from the event having
learned a lot and I know what I
need to work on to improve. I'm
looking forward to the rest of the
season now and then hopefully
I'll be more prepared for the 2019
Dakar."
Look back at daily Dakar
coverage from Cycle News at:
http://www.cyclenews.com/se-
ries/dakar-rally/
Jean Turner
2018 Dakar Rally Overall Results:
1. Matthias Walkner (KTM) 43:06:01
2. Kevin Benavides (Hon) +16:53
3. Toby Price (KTM) +23:01
4. Antoine Meo (KTM) +47:28
5. Gerard Farres (KTM) +1:01:04
6. Johnny Aubert (Gas) +1:53:53
7. Oriol Mena (Her) +2:22:52
8. Pablo Quintanilla (Hus) +2:24:05
9. Daniel Oliveras (KTM) +2:37:20
10. Jose Ignacio Cornejo (Hon) +2:42:36
17. Andrew Short (Hus) +4:13:42
21. Mark Samuels (Hon) +06:11:06
25. Shane Esposito (KTM) +7:37:44
66. Bill Conger (KTM) +26:40:12
Despite four high-speed crashes
and a possible broken ankle,
Andrew Short crossed the finish
in his first-ever Dakar Rally. He
placed 17th overall.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
PHOTOSDAKAR.COM/HUSQVARNA
MOTORCYCLES
MEDIA
