Quick and consistent since the start in Buenos Aires, Toby Price has kept on progressing as he has acquired experience on his first Dakar and now he is a stage winner.

The Australian rookie, winner of his first stage in Rosario today and a solid third in the general standings, is one of the revelations of the 2015 edition.

In the top five seven times since the start, KTM’s Price did not have much time left to pick up a possible first success on the Dakar. The Holy Grail for every debutant, already obtained by Matthias Walkner earlier on in the rally, finally fell into the grasp of the KTM rider on a penultimate stage of the rally that he led from start to finish.

“It’s my first go at the Dakar, but like we say, we’ve still got one day to go,” Price commented. “Anything could happen and at this stage everything is just feeling good. We’re enjoying it, so it’s been a good experience.

“There have been a lot of highs and lows and good learning curves as well as a few mistakes, but we’re trying to fix them as best as we can and get to the finishing line. Hopefully, that will happen tomorrow.

“I always knew it was going to be difficult, but you don’t know until you actually come here and have a go and then you actually find out how really hard it is. We were fairly well prepared coming into the event. We’re just going to come back next year hopefully, now that we know what we’re in for and be an even bit better prepared again.”

Far from lowering the pace after 12 days of racing, the Australian in fact put on a show of force on the road to Rosario by reaching all the time check points in the lead, to consolidate his superb third place in the general standings.

Price is even not too far – 25 minutes – from rally leader Marc Coma, who will have to keep a watchful eye on this newcomer to the rally-raid elite.

Joan Barreda already belongs to this elite and the Honda rider proved it again on Friday. Second to finish, 1m55s behind the winner, the Spaniard played the role of opener with panache.

Paulo Gonçalves also again displayed his fine skills with the day’s third best time, but it was insufficient however to worry Coma, who contented himself with managing his lead in the general standings.

In sixth place, 6m25s behind Price, the official KTM leader did not take any risks and looks to be heading comfortably to his fifth outright triumph on the Dakar.

Coma was even beaten today by a Slovakian duo in form at the end of this second week of rallying with the fourth place for Ivan Jakes and fifth for Stefan Svitko. Pablo Quintanilla lost 10 minutes to Price, meaning the final podium is slipping away from his grasp.

Simon Pavey was 73rd today, directly trailed by Llewellyn Sullivan-Pavey, now 63rd and 62nd overall with a single day remaining in the difficult challenge.

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