WORSHIP: Boris Mihailovic PHOTOS: Red Bull Content Pool
I
first met Toby Price at the Finke Desert race a few
years ago. Yes, he won that on his bike and, but for
a mechanical fault, would have won it in a car as
well, taking out the Iron Man title. He was already a
motorcycling superstar with a Dakar victory under his
belt, as well as every conceivable dirt title Australia has
– and since there’s a lot of dirt in Oz, that’s quite a few.
Yet there he was, the night before one of the most
gruelling desert races on earth, completely cheerful
and unassuming, signing autographs and posing for
selfies with literally hundreds of fans of all ages. For
each person there was a genuine smile and a kind
word.
He’s just that kind of bloke.
He’s also the kind of bloke who just won the 2019
Dakar with a broken hand – a broken hand in which
the screw holding it together had come loose and was
digging a new hole in another bone.
I managed to catch up with him at a recent KTM
Lunch of Champions, and after falling on my ageing
knees to briefly worship him, we had a few words…
Six time Finke Desert
Race winner, Toby Price
will be back to try and
take a seventh
BM: I think it’s fair to say every bloke I know has a bit
of a man-crush on you. I can’t speak for the women
because I can’t see them behind the piles of undies. It
all started a little before your first Dakar win, but this
last one was all kinds of special. When did you realise
that you had this Dakar in the bag?
TP: About 100 metres from the finished line. It eased
the load on the shoulders when Paulo crashed out. It’s
never good to see a competitor go out that way, but
there were still no guarantees for me. If I missed a way
point and got a two-hour penalty, or had an accident, I
could have gone from first to sixth quite easily.
BM: What was the hardest part of the race for you?
Was it dealing with that broken bone? How much more
difficult did that make the whole thing?
MAKING THE IMPOS
58 KIWI RIDER