Dakar Bikes, Stage 13: Price seals victory, Quintanilla tops final test
Toby Price was crowned 2016 Dakar Rally champion in the motorcycle category, as Pablo Quintanilla claimed a first stage win of the event on the final day.
#3 KTM: Toby Price
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Factory KTM rider Price seized the lead of the rally on the eighth stage, and gradually pulled clear of his rivals - helped when closest rival Paulo Goncalves fell out of contention with a broken radiator on Stage 9.
Price began the final stage, a 180km dash from Villa Carlos Paz to the finish line in Rosario, with a lead of 37 minutes, and completed the day in fourth place to confirm outright victory in only his second Dakar.
It marks the first time the Dakar has been won by an Australian, as well as KTM's 15th successive triumph in the motorcycle class.
Price ended with a 39m41s cushion over KTM privateer Stefan Svitko, who secured his best-ever Dakar finish in second, while Husqvarna's Pablo Quintanilla completed the podium, 48 minutes adrift.
Quintanilla also secured his first ever stage win, beating Kevin Benavides (Honda) by 1m41s and Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha) by 2m37s.
In the process, Dakar rookie Benavides overhauled Rodrigues to move up to fourth overall, while the latter's Yamaha teammate Adrian van Beveren took sixth at the expense of KTM's Antoine Meo.
An ostensibly injured Meo, whose chances of a podium in his maiden Dakar faded on Friday after a fall, lost a further 48 minutes on the final stage.
Gerard Farres (KTM), top Honda factory rider Ricky Brabec and Armand Monelon (KTM) completed the top 10 finishers overall.
Final standings:
Pos. | No. | Rider |
Bike | Time/Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 |
Toby Price |
KTM |
48h09m15s |
2 | 5 |
Stefan Svitko |
KTM |
39m41s |
3 | 4 |
Pablo Quintanilla |
Husqvarna |
48m48s |
4 | 47 |
Kevin Benavides |
Honda |
54m47s |
5 | 7 |
Helder Rodrigues |
Yamaha |
55m44s |
6 | 42 |
Adrien van Beveren |
Yamaha |
1h46m29s |
7 | 49 |
Antoine Meo |
KTM |
1h56m47s |
8 | 23 | Gerard Farres | KTM | 2h01m00s |
9 | 48 |
Ricky Brabec |
Honda | 2h11m27s |
10 | 45 | Armand Monleon | KTM | 3h27m49s |
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