Dakar 2017, Stage 4: Barreda keeps lead, Price crashes out

Joan Barreda has kept the lead of the Dakar Rally bikes contest after Thursday’s stage, as defending champion Toby Price was forced to retire after a late crash.he fourth stage of the South American event took the riders across the Bolivian border from Jujuy to Tupiza, with the timed section comprising 416km at an altitude of more than 3000 metres.

Having taken the lead with his win on Wednesday’s stage, Honda rider Barreda opened the road, but managed to avoid the navigational pitfalls that cost Price so much time on the preceding test.

The Spaniard was just over two minutes clear of Price when he arrived at the short neutralised section at the Bolivian border, but lost time before the first waypoint of the second part of the stage, with Price taking the lead.

However, at the 371km mark, Price crashed, fracturing his left femur. He was evacuated by helicopter just over 10 minutes later, with organisers announcing the Australian would be unable to take further part in the rally.

That gifted Price’s factory KTM teammate Matthias Walkner the stage win – the second of his career – by a margin of 2m02s over Barreda, whose overall lead now stands at 22m16s.

Second overnight, Sam Sunderland (KTM) endured a difficult stage, losing 16 minutes to Walkner and slipping to third behind Pablo Quintanilla (Husqvarna), 24m36s off the overall lead.

Walkner’s stage win promotes him from 11th to fourth after Price’s retirement, another minute further back, while troubles for Paulo Goncalves (Honda) mean the top five is now completed by KTM privateer Gerard Farres.

Bikes standings after Stage 4:

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap
1	Joan Barreda	Honda	12h35m34s
2	Pablo Quintanilla	Husqvarna	+22m16s
3	Sam Sunderland	KTM	+24m36s
4	Matthias Walkner	KTM	+25m45s
5	Gerard Farres	KTM	+30m22s
6	Stefan Svitko	KTM	+32m25s
7	Adrian van Beveren	Yamaha	+33m09s
8	Pela Renet	Husqvarna	+33m35s
9	Xavier de Soultrait	Yamaha	+35m14s
10	Ricky Brabec	Honda	+37m16s