WATCH extended one-hour highlights from every stage of the 2022 Dakar Rally - January 2-15 (AEDT) - EXCLUSIVE and FREE on SBS and .
The stage result edged Price up the overall standings to 14th, 26 minutes behind British race leader Sam Sunderland.
Fellow Aussie Daniel Sanders revealed he rode a tactical race after finishing fifth on Tuesday, to be fifth overall, less than nine minutes behind the leader which includes a 10-minute penalty picked up on stage two.
Joaquim Rodrigues took the motorbike stage on Tuesday for his first Dakar win.
The Portuguese rider dedicated his racing to brother-in-law Paulo Goncalves, who died on the 2020 Dakar.
Price, who won in 2016 and 2019, tweeted: "Good day today! Super fast stage so you can't make up too much time... there were lines in the dunes you can see and follow so just tried to make it a clean stage."
The mention of being able to follow the route referenced several occasions when
riders have taken a wrong turn in the desert.
This included Price himself in the opening stage, which he estimated cost him 45 minutes, and Sanders in the second stage.
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The Victorian said he had deliberately lost time, taking a short break, to avoid having to run first on Wednesday and forge his own path in the dunes.
"Just before the finish, I sat and had a picnic for a bit and waited for three minutes," he said.
"I just played it smart because tomorrow is the longest stage of the race and I wanted to start back a bit to catch the guys in front."
In the SSV event for four-wheel side-by-side vehicles, Australian duo Molly Taylor and Dale Moscatt moved up to eighth -- 81 minutes adrift of the leaders, after a 10th-place finish.
Spaniard Carlos Sainz won the third stage of the cars category with his Audi team celebrating a first for an electric hybrid car.
Qatar's Nasser Al Attiyah strengthened his grip on the overall lead after closest challenger Sebastien Loeb suffered two punctures and a transmission problem that left him on two-wheel drive.
