Toby Price crashes out of Dakar 2017. Bugger!

Australian racer Toby Price has been forced to retire from Dakar 2017 on just the fourth stage of the rally after a nasty crash.

The fall came late in the 416-kilometre timed stage which traversed the Bolivian border from Jujuy to Tupiza.

Price was leading the fourth stage by the second waypoint, recovering from a poor start to the third stage which saw him drop down the order.

However, at the 371-kilometre mark, the Aussie crashed, fracturing his left femur. Price was evacuated by helicopter shortly after the crash, and will be unable to take any further part in the 2017 rally.

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Price was a red-hot favourite to win the bikes category this year as the defending champ. The five-time Finke Desert Race winner finished third overall in his Dakar debut in 2015.

It just goes to show that when Dakar bites, it bites hard!

Slovakian rider Ivan Jakes was having a very different kind of trouble on the third stage of the rally after he was struck by lightning.

Yes. Lightning.

Not to let something as biblical as that get in his way, Jakes still finished the stage.

Jakes was 300-kilomtres from the end of the days running when he was struck by a bolt of lightning after being caught in a storm. But the Slovakian picked his bike back up, and managed to finish the stage in 15th place.

The Dakar doctors credited Jakes’ survival to his KTM motorcycle, which conducted the electricity to the ground. If he had stepped off the bike and grounded the electricity himself, this may not be as cheerful a story.

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It is yet another example of what makes the Dakar Rally the most hostile and dangerous motorsport competition in the world.

Meanwhile in the cars category, Peugeot’s factory team are running one-two, with Cyril Despres leading from “Mr Dakar” himself, Stephane Peterhansel. Former WRC stars Mikko Hirvonen and Sebastien Loeb are third and fourth in a Mini and Peugeot respectively, with Nani Roma rounding out the top five for Toyota