After a near-9000km slog and greater than 44 hours of brutal racing over two weeks of unforgiving desert terrain, Toby Worth may solely gaze forlornly at a timesheet which confirmed he’d misplaced the Dakar Rally by the cruellest of margins – simply 43 seconds.
It left this teak-tough Australian motorbike star shrugging in his personal understated means: “It hurts a bit bit…”
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It actually should have achieved.
For this was probably the most tightly fought battle the good race had witnessed in its 45 editions, with Worth ending up having to present greatest to a different former winner Kevin Benavides, with the blow probably not softened by the actual fact the Argentine victor is his Pink Bull KTM teammate.
Race historians later introduced that by no means earlier than had a biker misplaced the Dakar lead on the final stage and by no means earlier than had the margin of defeat been so shut, after two-time winner Worth had set out on Sunday’s 14th and last stage in Saudi Arabia simply 12 seconds forward of Benavides.
So these had been deeply unwelcome new data for Worth who ended up annoyed at shedding essential seconds with a number of errors on the ‘waypoint’ markers dotted over the 136km ‘dash’ to the end.
Hailed by the organizers for his gentlemanly and sporting response to shedding so narrowly, the 35-year-old Worth was fast to salute Benavides for his “nice job”.
“To be sincere, I’m dissatisfied, we have come so rattling far and to fall quick by such a small margin is a tricky one to swallow. Nonetheless, full credit score to Kevin, he rode a loopy stable race and I am actually pleased with your entire crew effort, this Dakar has been large” stated Worth.
“Disappointment … just a bit annoyed that, on the final day, they performed with these 20-metre guidelines for the waypoints, and I needed to flip again and get three of them.
“Yeah, arduous to take in the intervening time, however on the finish of the day I am going residence in a single piece and we bought a Dakar trophy.”
Certainly, it was the sixth time within the final 9 editions that Worth had made the rostrum along with his first runner’s up spot to go alongside his two victories and three third-place finishes.
And in such a deadly sport, Worth may additionally replicate that coming residence to the Gold Coast unscathed was at all times a bonus, particularly as he is needed to abandon throughout this race twice earlier than and his 2022 marketing campaign featured a crash on the Morocco Rally which ended with him being evacuated by helicopter.
Worth’s compatriot Daniel Sanders, the race’s early chief, additionally stored persevering to the tip, regardless of having to experience for hours in ache with a thorn buried in his arm which is able to want extracting now the race is finished.
The Pink Bull GasGas rider from Victoria ended up a extremely creditable seventh, practically 26 minutes adrift.
Benavides, who received in 2021 with Honda, made a bit of Dakar historical past by being the primary rider to win for 2 totally different producers.
“That makes me very proud – and it is unimaginable to tug off the win on the finish of this utterly loopy Dakar, and with such a small hole.”
