Dakar Bikes, Stage 11: Price closes on victory, Goncalves crashes out

Trailing factory KTM teammate Meo at the first two waypoints, rally leader Price took control of the 431km La Rioja-San Juan stage at WP3, establishing a lead of nearly two minutes at the halfway point.

However, Meo fought back in the latter half, pipping Price by a mere 18 seconds at the finish to bag his second stage win of the rally in his maiden Dakar appearance.

Price nonetheless enjoys a healthy advantage of 35m23s over nearest rival Stefan Svitko (KTM) - who was seventh for the day - in the overall standings with only two stages remaining.

Husqvarna's Pablo Quintanilla was third on the stage, 2m48s slower than Meo, and was followed by the Yamaha duo of Helder Rodrigues and Adrien van Beveren.

Quintanilla slipped to fourth overall behind Meo, sitting less than two minutes behind the Frenchman in the battle for the final podium place, ahead of Kevin Benavides (Honda) and Rodrigues.

After two troubled days for Goncalves, which resulted in him falling from second to eighth in the standings, the factory Honda rider's rally came to abrupt end when he suffered a crash 118km into the stage.

The Portuguese was then reportedly found unconscious and airlifted to hospital, although the nature and extent of his injuries are unknown as of the time of writing.

Only 14 riders made it to the end of the stage before it was suspended for bikes and quads due to extreme heat, meaning the rest were awarded a nominal time - though this didn't affect the top nine positions overall.

Standings after Stage 11:

Pos.	No.	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap
1	3	Toby Price	KTM	40h08m30s
2	5	Stefan Svitko	KTM	35m23s
3	49	Antoine Meo	KTM	43m46s
4	4	Pablo Quintanilla	Husqvarna	45m19s
5	47	Kevin Benavides	Honda	57m05s
6	7	Helder Rodrigues	Yamaha	1h02m01s
7	42	Adrian van Beveren	Yamaha	1h33m46s
8	48	Ricky Brabec	Honda	1h39m55s
9	23	Gerard Farres	KTM	1h42m16s
10	45	Armand Monleon	Honda	3h09m44s