The Italian and KTM rider Danilo Petrucci took his first stage win in the Dakar Rally on Thursday.
In the fifth stage, from Riyadh to Riyadh, the former MotoGP rider clocked second but was ultimately classified as the winner due to a time penalty for KTM colleague and multiple Dakar winner Toby Price.
“Today was a long day. I left this morning and decided I really wanted to learn and improve navigation, so I didn’t push too hard in the beginning.” Petrucci said.
“After a bend there was a large dune with a group of camels on the other side. A large camel came towards me and I had to dodge it, but I ended up crashing after going over a lot of bumps and camel grass. That was my very first crash of this Dakar.
“After that things calmed down a bit and Kevin [Benavides] caught up with me and we rode together to the finish.” Petrucci added.
Petrucci’s exit from the Tech3 KTM team in two races’ time is set to mark the end of what has been a 10-year premier-class career, during which he became a two-time race winner for the factory Ducati team.
His first MotoGP victory in Mugello in 2019 clearly showed a lot of emotions, and Petrucci has not been spared tears after the first Dakar victory.
Despite breaking his ankle during training and nearly missing out on the race due to a false COVID-19 test, Petrucci has been a standout across the five days.
“After overtaking a few more riders, we came to a waypoint that wasn’t valid for everyone – I lost some time there.” Petrucci said.
“The last 60 kilometers were all dunes so I was very careful there to make sure I didn’t hurt my ankle.” he added.
