Price takes early Dakar lead despite road book drama

Toby Price has won the first stage of the 2020 Dakar Rally despite incurring a penalty after his road book tore in two just 15 kilometres in.

The 2019 Dakar Bikes champion beat American Ricky Brabec by 2:05s on the 319 competitive kilometres from Jeddah to Al Wajh, enough of a margin to keep him five seconds ahead overall once he had two minutes added to his time.

Brabec led to the first two waypoints on his Monster Energy Honda as Price jostled for second position with Red Bull KTM team-mate Matthias Walkner.

However, it was Price who took over top spot at Kilometre 105 and he held that lead until the end of the stage.

“My road book walked out on me after 15-odd kilometres, so it was strange,” said the two-time Dakar Rally winner before hearing of his penalty.

“I was quite lucky in one way because I managed to follow on some dust and just keep up with the guys. Once the road book is gone, then you’re pretty much driving blind.

“At the moment it looks good on paper, but I think we have a bit of a penalty coming.

“It’s not the greatest start, but it’s still a long rally to go. We’re in good shape, we feel good on the bike and we’re happy.”

Brabec dropped several minutes between Kilometres 86 and 105, dropping as far back as seventh, but quickly made up ground to beat Walkner to second by 35 seconds.

Kevin Benavides (Monster Energy Honda), Sam Sunderland (Red Bull KTM), and Pablo Quintanilla (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) all sit within five minutes of the lead in fourth to sixth respectively.

Joan Barreda Bort is 5:51s back from Price even after the Australian’s penalty has been applied, with the Monster Energy Honda rider explaining, “I’m very happy to have finished the day well but the truth is that I couldn’t really find the right feeling.

“From the start I felt some discomfort in my rib and it was a difficult stage for me.

“Finally I was able to salvage something from the day on what turned out to be a good warm-up for the Dakar.

“I will try to gradually make more of a mark on the rally as it goes along.”

Adrien van Beveren rounds out the top 10 for Monster Energy Yamaha.

Stage 2 takes place from tonight (AEDT) with 367km of special stage running which takes the field from Al Wajh to Neom.

General classification: Bikes (Top 10)