Pre-race motorbike Dakar favourite Toby Price crashed out of the 2017 edition of the race. He was airlifted off the course with a broken femur.
Price, who won last year’s event by more than 40 minutes, had been among the leading contenders in the event despite a navigational issue had dropped him down to fifth on stage three.
But on Stage 4 he crashed out and had to be airlifted to hospital with his broken limb.
It means that with the 29-year-old Australian, the motorbike class will see a new event winner. Austria’s Matthias Walkner won the fourth stage.
“The bad thing is that Toby crashed. I hope he is more or less ok. I stopped with him and then they showed me that it was over for him. Health is the most important thing and I hope that he’s ok. Of course, I’m happy to finish first, but I hope he’s ok. We’re not even half way there and the finish is so far away”, Walkner said.
Toby Price’s crash means there will be a new winner in the motorbike class
That is the second high profile incident of the day after Nasser Al-Attiyah’s withdrawal. The Qatari driver lost more than two hours in the third stage with mechanical problems. His Toyota team announced that the damages were too extensive for him to continue.
BIKES ? – Nothing but respect between those champions. / Nada más que respeto mutuo entre esos campeones. #Dakar2017 pic.twitter.com/c25yS9l0rV
— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) 5 January 2017
.@tobyprice87 has been diagnosed with a fractured left femur. / A Toby Price se le diagnosticó una fractura del fémur izquierdo.
— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) 5 January 2017
