Tragedy strikes the Dakar again: shock following the death of a Spanish motorcyclist after a fall in Saudi Arabia

Tragedy strikes the Dakar again. The Catalan motorcyclist Carlos Falcone He died this Monday due to injuries sustained last Sunday, January 7, when he fell in the second stage of the competition, for which he had to be resuscitated in the middle of the Saudi Arabian desert. The TwinTrain Racing Team explained in a statement that the neurological damage caused by the cardiorespiratory arrest at the time of the accident was “irreversible”, after the driver had suffered cerebral edema and a fracture of the C2 vertebra, in addition to the breaking of five ribs, left wrist and clavicle.

After the accident suffered on the stage between Al Henakiyah and Al Duwadimi and which forced the pilot to be hospitalized in Riyadh since Monday 8th morning, he was repatriated to Spain last Friday on board a medical plane and was hospitalized. the intensive care unit since then in critical condition.

The TwinTrain Racing Team underlined in the text that “Carles was a smiling person, always active and who passionately loved everything he did, especially motorcycles”, as well as concluding that he died “doing something that was his dream, racing the Dakar” and that “he was having fun” because “he was happy on the bike”.

“We must remember him for his smile and for the happiness he aroused in everyone”, we read in the statement, which specifies that despite being a computer engineer by training, he was a motorcycle instructor and tour guide “out of passion”.

Furthermore, he asked “that confidentiality be maintained regarding the farewell events that will take place in the coming days” and thanked them for their understanding.

Last Friday, the team itself declared that it had been repatriated to Spain, where the doctors would carry out “new tests” as established by the “protocol”, since the pilot had to undergo emergency surgery on the C2 vertebra, despite the operation Last Wednesday the operation was postponed because the “priority” was to reduce the cerebral edema.

Before his return to Spain, Falcón was hospitalized in a medically induced coma in Riyadh hospital from the beginning of last Monday until Friday, whose medical services authorized his transfer to Spain on Wednesday 10th.

Falcón, from the Original by Motul category, fell at kilometer 448 of the second special stage and, alerted by a pilot following the motorcyclist, the organizers sent a helicopter, whose medical service rescued the motorcyclist, who was seriously injured after the fall. head to the ground.