Dakar 2018: Walkner closes in on overall win

Published: 20 January 2018 Updated: 20 January 2018

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Stage 13 – San Juan to Cordoba, 560km liaison, 369km special stage

Australian Toby Price showed his class to take his second stage win on the bounce with a commanding performance on the penultimate day of Dakar 2018. The factory KTM rider who opened the stage, led the whole way, keeping Argentinian Kevin Benavides at bay by 2m 03s in the battle for second in the overall standings.

On form Frenchman Antoine Meo ran with the two leaders all day, eventually finishing third 2m 44s behind his team-mate, Price.

Price said: “The day went really well. This morning we had a couple of tricky bits, but it was a good fast track with really rough sections, so I pushed pretty hard there and made up a little bit of time. I was trying to win both the stage and take second place. Coming to the end of the week and almost to the finish, I need to try and get some wins and try and get some time back. Unfortunately, I made that big mistake a few days ago and that’s cost me a lot.

“That’s just the way it is. We’re just trying to claw back as much as we can and show everybody that we’ve got good speed. It would be nice to beat Kevin. That’s the goal but Kevin’s riding really well, really strongly and really fast at the moment. He’s a little guy, so the bike’s got really good top-speed, so I’ll have to try and beat him on corner-speed. 12 weeks ago I would have laughed and said I wouldn’t have been here on the starting line and if anyone said I was going to maybe try and push for a podium finish I definitely would have laughed pretty hard then. It would be nice to try and get onto the second step. At the moment, third is not looking too bad, but it’s not over yet.”

Overall race leader Matthias Walkner did exactly what was required of him, finishing fourth on the stage to consolidate his overall lead heading into the final stage tomorrow. The 31 year old Austrian lost 11m 32s to Price but having started the day with over 30m in the bag, it’s time he can afford to lose.

He said: “It was a really long day and the guys were pushing like hell but I just tried to do nothing crazy. I just tried to be focused on the stage and do my best. There is quite a big gap, but it can change so quickly if you have a technical problem and you get a bit lost. But at the moment it does not look so bad for me. There is still one day more to go, it’s really crazy to think otherwise. We have 120km left to go, so I’m going to stay focused on it and try my best”.

Tomorrow’s final stage of Dakar 2018 will see the riders complete a relatively short 120km timed special stage that is designed to showcase Dakar to the fans rather than being a no holds barred race stage. But each and every competitor will have to successfully complete the stage to be classed as a finisher so there will be no room for complacency.

Results Stage 13

Toby Price AUS KTM 4h 48m 33s
Kevin Benavides ARG Honda +2m 03s
Antoine Meo FRA KTM +2m 44s
Matthias Walkner AUT KTM +11m 32s
Juan Pedro Garcia ESP Sherco +15m 12s
Gerrard Fares ESP KTM +16 10s

Overall results at the end of stage 13

Matthias Walkner AUT KTM 41h 33m 42s
Kevin Benavides ARG Honda +22m 31s
Toby Price AUS KTM +27m45s
Antoine Meo FRA KTM +50m17s
Gerrard Farres ESP KTM +1h 01m 19s
Johnny Aubert FRA GasGas +1h 54m 12s

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By Michael Guy

Sports Editor - If you’re looking for sport insight that’s got its finger firmly on the pulse and gets to the very heart of the action with the fattest contacts book in bike sport (rather than simply relying on watching TV coverage and hoovering up what other people are saying on social media) – then Michael is your, erm, ‘guy’.