Dakar Rally winner Toby Price chats with Neil Mitchell after historic win

He’s broken 27 bones and has three rods and eight screws ‘basically’ holding his head together.

But Toby Price continues to race motorbikes for a living.

Neil Mitchell questioned whether Australia’s new sporting hero was either very brave, or very silly.

‘I’ll go with both,’ Price said with a laugh on 3AW Mornings.

The 28-year-old became the first Australian to win any category of the gruelling Dakar Rally when he took out the motorcycle division following ‘two weeks of torture’ in rough South American terrain.

‘I don’t know anything other than riding a motorcycle,’ Price said from Argentina.

‘I like being out there in the desert and going as fast as I can.’

But that all nearly ended three years ago when he broke his neck in an accident.

Price admitted he nearly gave the sport away.

‘It was a tough time,’ he explained.

‘I’ve now permanently got three rods and eight screws basically holding my head on, really.

‘I got extremely lucky with that accident.’

Price said he was still coming to terms with the significance of his achievement, which has attracted the interest of F1 star Daniel Ricciardo, even Hollywood actor Eric Bana.

‘To have him (Bana) tweeting about me and the Dakar rally is something pretty special,’ Price said.

Make no mistake Australians, this is the #1 sport story of the summer. Congrats Toby. ? https://t.co/9BDUlGdMDB

? Eric Bana (@EricBana67) January 16, 2016

Click PLAY below to hear Toby Price’s chat with Neil Mitchell.