Dakar 2016: Toby Price Wins Stage 6; Barreda Bort Out of Contention

Stage 6 of the ongoing Dakar Rally was a 542km-long, gruelling one. The loop, that this stage was in the form of, started from Uyuni and ended at the same place. The stage was dominated from the very beginning by the KTM rider Toby Price who finished the stage on top ahead of the Honda rider Paulo Goncalves, who, in turn, finished at the second spot before the KTM rider Matthias Walkner.

One of the biggest upsets of the day was in the form of Honda's Joan Barreda Bort. Barreda Bort, who was one of the hot favourites for winning the rally this year, had an engine issue just after CP3 which made him stand still, losing over an hour. This practically means that his chances of winning this year have been again crushed for second year in a row.

In Dakar 2015, Barreda Bort was enjoying an overall lead of 13 minutes over Marc Coma who was then at second place, when he had a crash, but still stayed on top. What happened in stage 7 was nothing less than plain legendary - after a crash at kilometre 200, Barreda Bort broke the left side of his handlebar and then rode the bike for 120kms using only one hand.

Also Read - Dakar 2016: KTM Clinches Top Four Spots in Stage 5

Till CP3, there were three Hondas in the top four spots with Goncalves leading. KTM's Toby Price was second and was being followed by Kevin Benavides and the 24-year-old Ricky Brabec, who is making his Dakar debut this year.

Husqvarna rider, Ruben Faria, who started his day from seventh spot overall, also crashed today. The crash resulted in a broken wrist for the Portuguese rider which forced him to withdraw from this year's edition of Dakar.

After stage 6, these are the overall top 10 riders:

1. Paulo Goncalves (Honda) - 20:23:07

2. Toby Price (KTM) - 20:23:42

3. Matthias Walkner (KTM) - 20:25:57

4. Stefan Svitko (KTM) - 20:28:24

5. Pablo Quintanilla (Husqvarna) - 20:38:17

6. Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha) - 20:43:19

7. Kevin Benavides (Honda) - 20:44:11

8. Antoine Meo (KTM) - 20:46:09

9. Alain Duclos (Sherco TVS) - 20:49:16

10. Juan Pedrero Garcia (Sherco TVS) - 20:50:24