Price gets first stage win of Dakar 2022

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Toby Price has his first stage win of the 2022 Dakar Rally.

In a KTM one-two on Stage 5, the two-time Dakar champion beat two-time MotoGP race winner Danilo Petrucci by 4:14s on the 345km loop around Riyadh.

UPDATE: Price loses stage win due to penalty

Price is now up to 12th overall at 31:19s behind GasGas Factory Racing’s Sam Sunderland, who continues to lead the rally after taking 13th for the day.

At one point, an Australian one-two looked a very real possibility, but Daniel Sanders lost more than a dozen minutes on the way to the penultimate waypoint on the other GasGas entry.

Sanders had been fastest to six of the first seven waypoints, the last of those being at Kilometre 259, and was only nine seconds off the pace at Kilometre 81.

He ended up 17th-fastest for the day and while the reason for the slump is not yet clear, the second-year Dakar rider remains fourth overall at only a slightly enlarged 8:01s deficit relative to team-mate Sunderland.

CLICK HERE for Sanders’ revelation about his dislocated shoulder

Sanders’ misfortune meant that the battle for stage honours turned into a duel between Red Bull KTM team-mates Price and Kevin Benavides, the latter of whom took over the lead.

However, Price pulled ahead by Kilometre 311 and doubled his margin over the field in the last 34km.

Petrucci, on the Tech3 KTM Factory Racing entry, appears to finally be a podium finisher on a stage of the Dakar Rally.

The Italian, on debut in the famous rally-raid, looked to have achieved that feat a day earlier, before copping a 10-minute penalty for speeding in a controlled zone.

The top five on the day was rounded out by Monster Energy Yamaha’s Ross Branch and Monster Energy Honda team-mates Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo and Ricky Brabec.

In the overall standings, Red Bull KTM’s Matthias Walkner crept slightly to the top by finishing 12th on Stage 5.

He is now 2:29s behind Sunderland, with Monster Energy Yamaha’s Adrien Van Beveren third at 5:59s off the pace.

Behind Sanders, Skyler Howes rounds out the top five on a Husqvarna Factory Racing entry, while Petrucci is 19:11:06s away from the event lead.

The third Australian in the Bikes field, Andrew Houlihan (Nomadas Adventure KTM), is still completing the stage.

CLICK HERE for Houlihan’s daily diary entry

Riders face another loop around Riyadh for Stage 6, which starts on Friday afternoon (AEDT).

CLICK HERE for extended highlights of Stage 5

General classification: Bikes Top 10