The organizers of the Dakar Desert Rally held this year in Saudi Arabia, announced the death of the Portuguese cyclist Paulo Gonsalves, 40, after falling in the seventh stage between Riyadh and Wadi Al-Dawasir, on Sunday.
The organizers indicated that Gonçalves, who was participating in the rally for the thirteenth time, and finished second in the motorcycle category in 2015, fell at 276 km from the stage, and was unconscious when the medical team arrived to see it
Paramedics attempted to revive the athlete at the scene of the accident, before being transferred by helicopter to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Gonçalves began participating in the Dakar Rally in 2006, and finished it in the top ten 4 times.
In the current version, he was ranked 46 in the overall standings by the end of the sixth stage in Riyadh, Friday, before the participants went to bed on Saturday, and the rally would resume on Sunday.
The rally extends over 12 days and a distance of about 7,500 km in various parts of Saudi Arabia, starting from the city of Jeddah on the Red Sea, and along the western coastal line of the Kingdom to the future "Neum", and across different deserts in the center of the country, before the conclusion in Al Qidiyah, west of Riyadh.
