Aussie Dakar champion Toby Price says he feels gutted after the rear wheel fell off his bike on stage six of the Dakar Rally leaving him more than 25 minutes behind overall leader American Ricky Brabec.
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"Unfortunately, around the 400km mark my rear tyre fell off," Price posted after finishing the stage.
"I have no idea why this would have happened but I'm super grateful that Andrew Short (@andrewshort29) pulled up and gave me his wheel which allowed me to get to the finish as quick as possible.
"So thank you again for this mate."
Price finished 11th on stage six, 16 minutes and 33 seconds off the pace, and has dropped back to third overall, 25 minutes and 39 seconds behind Monster Energy Honda's Brabec.
Husqvarna rider Pablo Quintanilla, from Chile, jumped to second overall after finishing fourth on stage six just over four minutes behind Brabec.
Brabec's teammate José Ignacio Cornejo Florimo finished sixth on the stage and is now just two seconds behind Price, sitting in fourth overall.
The rally has a rest day on Saturday, before Sunday's 741km stage seven.
Price said he had started stage six well, backing up from his victory on stage five, before things literally fell apart.
"We were navigating really well from the front and was only losing small amounts of time on the riders who started behind me.
"I was quite happy with the way I was racing, but unfortunately around the 400km mark my rear tyre fell off! Overall I'm pretty gutted that this is how we finished up today but I guess that's just how it goes sometimes."
The day before, Price recorded his second stage win of the 2020 Dakar Rally clawing back three minutes and three seconds to sit second nine minutes and six seconds behind Brabec.
It had been a good two days for Price who was sixth on stage four to improve two spots to be fourth on the outright standings.