Australian motorsport champion Toby Price opens up on injury dramas in 2019 Dakar Rally win

Gold Coaster Toby Price forged his place in history three years ago by becoming the first racer from Down Under to win the Dakar Rally. Now, he opens up on repeating the feat three years on – but this time with a broken wrist.

GOLD Coaster Toby Price forged his place in Australian motorsport history three years ago by becoming the first racer from Down Under to win the Dakar Rally. Now, he opens up on repeating the feat three years on – but this time with a broken wrist.

Q: You won the Dakar Rally three years ago but how special was winning it this time around after all you had gone through to get there?

A: Yeah definitely, that’s it, for sure. We didn’t know what we were going to expect from this race this year, especially going in from day one with an injury and one that was three or four weeks old.

So yeah, this one will definitely go down in my books for a long time as one to remember. I’m very happy to be home safe but to have that trophy in our hands with a broken wrist, we’re definitely very stoked.

Q: So you rode the toughest race in the world with a broken wrist ... at what point did you actually sustain that injury?

A: I broke the wrist in Abu Dhabi at our final test (ahead of the Dakar Rally) in the first week of December so yeah it was a very quick turnaround to try to make sure we can get the screw put in place to hold the bone together.

Then yeah it was just basically let the damage and the carnage unfold.

Toby Price with fellow Red Bull KTM Factory Team rider Matthias Walkner of Austria at the Dakar finish line. Picture: Flavien Duhamel/Red Bull Content Pool

Q: In that case, was there ever any danger of you not being able to compete at all?

A: It was always going to be OK to be on the start line and do a day or two or maybe three. The doctor just said I can’t tell you what the pain tolerance is going to be with it – he said it could be a two or it could be a 10 from day one so you’ve got to take it as it comes really. That was the plan, just to try to look after ourselves in the first week and then make a big push in the second week.

Q: Right. So tell us, exactly how bad was the pain? It couldn’t have been too pleasant.

A: It was definitely not the most enjoyable bit of riding that I have ever done in my years of racing. It hurt a lot. My hand felt like it was on fire … they were days I would like to forget but they are now days I will remember for a long time and to get that reward at the end of it made it bittersweet and so much better.

But yeah, hopefully in a few months the pain will be forgotten about and we’ll be back on the bike fit and healthy and good to go again.

Toby Price during the Dakar Rally. Picture: Supplied

Q: So which victory did you celebrate harder? And which, all in all, was tougher?

A: This one was definitely a little bit harder. The conditions were a lot harsher for us this year and just carrying this injury into it was the worst thing I have ever done to myself for the race but we tried minimising the mistakes and controlling what I could and then let everything unfold in front of us.

This year was the first that only went through one country, being Peru, and it was quite difficult terrain. To navigate through the sand was quite difficult with the sand changing a lot overnight. It would bring a lot of people unstuck, which it did this year as well.

Q: So am I right in saying you went under the knife last week? What was the operation like?

A: Yes, I went in Wednesday last week and saw Dr Steve Andrews in Brisbane Private Hospital.

I basically got another new screw put in place and then a bone graft on my hip back into the bone. Fingers crossed it will heal back up to 100 per cent. The scaphoid is a bad bone to be breaking because it can take three months, it can take nine months. We have just got to wait and see.

Toby Price is greeted by media in Pisco, Peru, upon winning the Dakar Rally. Picture: Getty Images

Q: Have you set yourself any target date for when you want to be back on a bike?

At this point there is no set time. It is definitely going to be a minimum of three months. If it shows good signs then, we can go again, but it could be up to nine months.

We won the main race that we wanted to win and that’s the Dakar and that’s the one that counts every year. We’ve got that in our hands so we can relax a little bit this year but for sure we need to get ourselves prepped and ready and organised for the 2020 Dakar.

Q: I was going to ask what your next challenge would be but it seems like a third Dakar is the main goal in sight now?

A: Yeah, 100 per cent. Once you have got one, you want two and when I have got two, I want three. It never stops; you’re never satisfied with what you have got. Hopefully we can make another good race. Once I get this hand healed up and all sorted, we’ll make a charge for next year and try to make it three.

Toby Price during the Dakar Rally. Picture: Supplied

Q: You’ve still got a few wins to go to catch the recordholder, Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel ...

A: I think his record is six on the bike and then I think seven in the car. His nickname is “Mr Dakar.” I have got a long way to go to catch that dude and I don’t think it will kind of happen, only because I would need to win the next four or five in a row to cement myself into that.

I know how hard it is to win one; it’s extremely hard to try to win two, so to try to win the third now it’s only going to get harder and harder.

Q: You dabbled in some events such as SuperUtes last year. Racing on two wheels is your priority but will we see you compete in something like that again?

A: At the end of the day I know my two-wheel career is not going to last forever and we have definitely got to start looking to the future at some point along the way and doing SuperUtes and (Stadium) Super Trucks has been a bit of a different step and another learning curve that I have been enjoying.

Hopefully we can make something of it when unfortunately that day does come to hang the helmet up for the motorcycle. But yeah I have still got plenty I want to do on the bike and there are still plenty of races that I want to win and I’d like to add a third Dakar to the cabinet. We’ll go from there.

An exhausted looking Price during the Dakar Rally. Picture: Supplied

Q: You seem like the kind of bloke who likes to keep busy. What will you get up to in the coming months if you can’t jump on the bike?

A: I can’t keep doing the adventurous activities that I like to do. I haven’t probably taken a holiday in the last three to five years so yeah while I have got this injury and can’t do anything, it’s time to relax a little bit, go on a trip, recover and catch up.

Just try to give the wrist a chance to heal in the best way possible and then the pain and torture will start again of getting back into shape and getting ready for the 2020 one.

Q: Was racing always the dream for you, ever since you were a kid?

A: Yeah, my parents were into off-road racing and everything. I grew up on a big property way out west in NSW (Hillston) and I basically had nothing else to do other than ride a motorcycle or do homework.

I wanted to ride the bike more than do homework and that was it. It all just took off from a young age; I started riding at about two-and-a-half or three years old, then had my first race at four and just haven’t looked back from there really. It was something I enjoyed doing and still to this day enjoy doing, so it never ends.

Toby Price competes in the Peruvian desert during stage seven of the 2019 Dakar Rally. Picture: Getty Images

Q: Did you ever watch much Formula One or Supercars or was it just off-road racing that grabbed your attention?

A: Probably at a younger age it was just the off-road and dirt bikes side of things but for sure in the last 10 or 12 years the car stuff has started to be of pretty big interest, following Aussies like Mark Webber in Formula One and the World Rally Championship cars, V8 Supercars being the most prominent motorsport race in Australia.

So I’ve always followed (Jamie) Whincup and guys like that.

Q: You’ve already said adventure activities are your cup of tea. What do you get up to besides riding?

A: I definitely enjoy mountain biking and wakeboarding and snowboarding and things like that … anything to get the adrenaline going really. You definitely get hooked on it.

Age: 31

Born: Hillston, NSW

Lives: Gold Coast

Team: Red Bull Factory KTM Rally Team

■ Primarily races bikes off-road but has also appeared in Australia’s SuperUtes series and action-packed American category Stadium Super Trucks.

■ Became the first Australian to win any class of the Dakar Rally when he conquered the 2016 course through Argentina and Bolivia to comfortably win the bike class, ahead of Slovakia’s Stefan Svitko.

■ Crashed out of the 2017 Dakar while leading, suffering a broken leg. Did not race on a bike again until the same event 12 months later, placing third.

■ Defied a broken wrist to lead KTM teammate Matthias Walkner of Austria home in the 2019 Dakar.