Red Bull KTM’s Toby Price says he took a conservative approach Stage 6 of the Dakar Rally after hurting his back and shoulder in a crash on the day prior.

Price remains second overall at a slightly enlarged, 3:31s deficit to Husqvarna’s Skyler Howes after finishing third for the second stage in a row.

He managed a podium on Stage 5 of the event despite crashing into Joan Barreda Bort when he was unable to avoid the Spaniard who had just gone down himself.

“[I thought] ‘This is going to be a long day,’ but I feel good,” said the two-time Dakar champion after Stage 6.

“I had that crash yesterday and [I am] a little sore in the back, so [I was] just taking it a little bit easier on it today.

“All in all, everything is going well so far, [but there is a] long way to go.”

Fortunately for Price, he now gets an extra rest day due to the cancellation of Stage 7 for the Bikes as a result of rain-related disruptions.

The Australian’s approach on Stage 6 was in contrast to Howes, who went hard and led at the penultimate waypoint before finishing 56 seconds behind team-mate Luciano Benavides.

“The only thing on my mind today was to go as fast as possible,” said the American.

“As soon as we hit the dunes, we were going in a super-good direction, so you can kind of jump them.

“It was a really fun stage; like, the dunes were wet still, [so] you got a lot of traction through them. They were really consistent too.

“A lot of the times you could jump them. I got caught out a couple of times and jumped into some pretty big compressions and stuff, which slowed me down a bit, but it was a really fun special.

“[Wetter sand] Does help; it makes for more traction, but it is more difficult when you have lots of lines in front of you because they leave deep ruts and when you come into it, it’s very easy to get kind of crossed up,” he added.

Kevin Benavides is third overall on another Red Bull KTM, 7:01s behind Howes.