Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Toby Price has successfully undergone surgery to repair a right fractured scaphoid sustained in a training incident this week.

The 2016 Dakar Rally winner and 2018 FIM Cross-Country Rallies world champion is understood to have completed the operation in Barcelona, Spain, and is currently travelling back to Australia for an immediate start to his recovery.

According to a statement released by the Austrian manufacturer, the 31-year-old expects to be adequately healthy for the 2019 Dakar Rally, scheduled to commence on 6 January 2019, before finishing up on 17 January 2019 following 5,541 kilometres of riding.

It’s an untimely blow for the popular Australian, who went into this year’s Dakar underprepared following a injury-riddled campaign in 2017, however still pulled through with a podium in the gruelling event.