Australian Toby Price has stayed in the hunt for a third title despite needing to put his 'bush mechanic' skills to use to see him through a testing eighth stage of the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia.
The two-time motorcycle champion used tape and plastic cable ties, also known as zip ties, on his badly damaged rear tyre to see him through the 375-kilometre route from Sakaka to Neom on Monday.
He had ridden about 300 kilometres the previous stage with the large cut in his tyre.
Where riders had previously been able to swap tyres with each other, new regulations required them to use one set of tyres across the 'marathon' stages or face a 30-minute time penalty.
"We've tried to repair it, patch it up as best we could," Price said.
"We've taped it up so no more dirt can get inside and tried to blow the mousse out, and we've put some zip ties on there to try and hold the tyre together."
Price said he only had one cable tie left by the 229km refuelling mark
Despite the setback, Price finished second in the stage and maintained his second placing overall, one minute and six seconds back from leader José Ignacio Cornejo Florimo.
On Twitter, Price said he did not think he would even complete the stage, let alone remain high in the standings.
"We just tried to keep momentum and not wear the tyre more than we needed to," Price told Motorsport.com.
"I'm surprised it made it to the finish line, but it shows the quality and what the tyre can do. It's done 800km as it is now, which is pretty remarkable.
"We lost another minute, but in the circumstances we're quite happy. We'll wait and see what the next few days bring. Hopefully we can draw it back in."
Price, who won the race in 2016 and 2019, updated his Instagram profile to include 'bush mechanic' in his biography.
There are four more stages in the 2021 rally, which ends in Jeddah on Friday.
