Toby Price wins Dakar 2019 with broken wrist

TOBY PRICE has secured his second Dakar victory overnight, winning the 2019 event despite breaking his wrist just weeks before the rally started.

The Australian rode a controlled race, maintaining pace with the leaders throughout the gruelling event, before jumping to the lead in the final days.

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Price inherited the lead after those in front of him encountered mechanical issues or crashed, and the Aussie entering the final stage of the event with just a minute lead over his main rival Pablo Quintanilla.

However, Quintanilla fell on the final day while trying to chase down the Aussie, who secured KTM its 18th consecutive victory in the bikes category.

Richard Sainct was the last man to win Dakar’s bike category on anything other than a KTM when he rode a BMW to victory in 2000.

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It looked like 2019 would be the year that KTM was finally dethroned, with Honda riders leading much of the rally, with Husqvarna’s Quintanilla also in the fray.

However, both of Honda’s riders failed to finish the rally, with one rider suffering an engine failure, while the other was slapped with a three hour penalty for carrying illegal route notes.

Meanwhile, in the cars, Nasser Al-Attiyah gave Toyota its first ever Dakar victory, dominating the 2019 event in a Hilux.

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Al-Attiyah controlled the pace of the rally from the outset, only surrendering the lead outright once on the second day.

While Al-Attiyah cruised to victory, his main rivals encountered numerous problems, with his margin of victory over second-placed Nani Roma ballooning to 46 minutes.

Roma went the entire rally without a stage win in his X-Raid Mini, but was consistent enough to finish on the podium for the first time since his 2014 win.

Nine-time WRC champion Sebastien Loeb rounded out the podium, competing in a privateer Peugeot 3008 DKR.

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Loeb was fastest on road multiple times throughout the event, however mechanical problems and a major navigational issue dropped him almost two hours behind Al-Attiyah by the end of the rally.

Eduard Nikolaev won his third consecutive Dakar Rally in the trucks category driving for Kamaz.

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Price finished the rally with a time of 33 hours, 57 minutes, and 16 seconds, while Al-Attiyah crossed the line after 34 hours, 38 minutes, and 14 seconds of driving. Nikolaev and his Kamaz completed the event after 41 hours, 1 minute, and 35 seconds.