Price was caught out by following the wrong river bed at the 150km mark, several other top runners including Joan Barreda and Ricky Brabec making the same mistake.

“It’s one of those days you want to forget,” Price told the media.

“For us it’s pretty much done. We’ll just keep plugging away each day and see what happens. You never know, but it’s not looking too good,” he said. 

“A bit tough, but that’s the way it is. I’ve just got to try and see what the rest of the week will bring now. It was a bit of a hot one and I didn’t have much fluid, so I’m a bit drained and dehydrated.”

The challenging leg of the race follows Price’s success during stage 8, where he was the third fastest on the day and pulled six minutes back on race leader Adrien Van Beveren to move to fourth overall.

“It’s been a really long marathon stage — yesterday was 430km and today was 490km — the two longest of the event,” Price said. 

“I’m feeling a little bit sore after racing for nearly 1,000km but apparently we have another rest day tomorrow due to the stage being cancelled.”

The organisers of the Dakar announced the cancellation of the next stage, saying heavy rains had turned areas of the overnight bivouac to mud. The weather conditions were also preventing assistance crews from refurbishing race vehicles. The ninth stage of the event was set to comprise a 755km trek from Tupiza in Bolivia to Salta in Argentina, including a 242km competitive section.

“I’m not complaining, I could certainly use the time to recharge, but everyone gets the same break and will be fired up and ready to go again on Tuesday,” Price said.

“All-in-all, I’m feeling good and the bike is awesome. I know the stages in Argentina are going to be tough and there are still a lot of kilometres to cover, but I’m in a good position and not had any issues.

“The idea is to just stay focused and keep doing what we’ve been doing.”

The next field of the Dakar will head to the Salta bivouac by road. The rally will resume with stage 10 from Salta to Belén.