Toby Price needed to emerge from the Dakar Rally's mid-race rest day by playing a day of catch-up in the Saudi Arabian desert.
Instead, the Australian motorcycle ace finds his hopes of winning a hat-trick of titles disappearing like sand between his fingers after he lost another place in the overall standings on what he admitted was a "tough" Sunday.
With five stages left, he is now in sixth place, more than half an hour behind American leader Ricky Brabec and the titanic two-bike race going on at the front of the field in the world's toughest rally.
