Australian rider Toby Price’s bid for a third Dakar Rally title is over after he crashed out on the race’s ninth stage in Saudi Arabia.

The 33-year-old was airlifted to a hospital in Tabuk in the country’s north-west.

His Red Bull KTM team later confirmed he’d suffered a broken collarbone and would be withdrawing from the race.

The crash happened about 155 kilometres into the 579km looped stage around the planned coastal city of Neom.

Price had started the day second overall in the bikes category, about a minute behind the leader Jose Ignacio Cornejo of Chile.

He’d been one of the leading riders through the last waypoint before crashing.

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American Ricky Brabec and British rider Sam Sunderland both lost several minutes while stopping to assist Price, but later had their lost time restored by race organisers.

“I came across Toby lying in the riverbed with Brabec already stopped with him,” Sunderland said.

“I helped there until the helicopter arrived then set off again.”

Brabec said Price appeared dazed when he found him.

He waited with the Australian for about 20 minutes until medics arrived.

“It’s a shame — he was definitely up there fighting for the win,” said Brabec.

After retrospectively being awarded the lost time, Brabec was elevated to second on the stage behind his Honda teammate Kevin Benavides of Argentina.

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Cornejo, who also rides for Honda, retained the overall lead.

He’s 11 minutes and 24 seconds clear of Benavides with three stages remaining, while Sunderland and Brabec are a few minutes further back in third and fourth respectively.

Australian rookie Daniel Sanders was eighth on last night’s stage and is now sixth overall.

He said he’d also come across Price’s crash.

“I stopped quickly just to make sure he was OK before carrying on to the finish,” said Sanders.



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