Disaster struck defending bike champion, Ben Grabham, on the massive 244 kilometre first stage of the day when he punctured a tyre.
“I broke a spoke, which is normally a pretty minor problem, but it can cause you big problems when you’re out in the desert,” a philosophical Grabham said.
“The spoke then punctured the tyre and I was forced to take it off and ride on the rim until the end of the stage. I fixed that and just had to get on with in the second stage. These things are typical of the Safari – it’s not the end of the world and I’ll push on.”
Undeterred, Grabham then took over a minute off his rivals on the next stage as he aims to get his title defence back on track.