French Rider Pierre Cherpin, age 52 was tragically announced dead during his transfer to his home country via a medical plane. The French rider had suffered a heavy crash during stage 7 of the Dakar Rally, which took place on Sunday, the 11th of January. The Dakar Rally is infamous for its unforgiving terrains and long strenuous hours of motoring in this arguably the most dangerous race on the planet. On Sunday, 178 kilometres into the Stage 7 of the rally, at around 1 PM, he suffered a heavy crash.
More details
Upon arriving at the crash site, the medical team found him unconscious and first up, he was taken to the Sakaka hospital and immediately operated upon his head which sustained injuries. After that, he was medically induced in a coma. He was later airlifted to Jeddah.
After inducing him in a coma, he was said to be stable and was all set to be transported to Lille, France. However, during his transfer from Jeddah to France, he tragically died succumbing to the injuries sustained in the crash. “During his transfer by medical plane from Jeddah to France, Pierre Cherpin died from the injuries caused by his fall during the seventh stage from Ha’il to Sakaka,” read a statement from the Dakar Rally.
Last year, a Portuguese rider, Paulo Goncalves had unfortunately lost his life competing in the rally. Earlier, Indian riders CS Santosh and Ashish Raorane had also suffered crashes but are doing alright now. Pierre was riding a Husqvarna in the ‘Classical Motul’ category without any external assistance.
Official statement
“The rider crashed at 178km, around 1:00 pm. Doctors found him unconscious when they reached him by helicopter. Taken to Sakaka’s hospital, the medical report revealed a severe head trauma with loss of consciousness. Urgently operated in neurosurgery, he had since then been kept in an induced coma, his condition having remained stable over the past few days. He was airlifted from Sakaka to Jeddah’s hospital from where he was going to be transferred to Lille’s hospital.”
The Dakar statement continued: “This 52-year-old entrepreneur and sailing enthusiast, had no other ambitions than to live an adventure, without really worrying about the podium: ‘I am an amateur, I don’t want to win but to discover landscapes that I would never have had the opportunity to see otherwise. Everything is exciting: riding the bike, living your passion, getting to know yourself’. The entire Dakar caravan would like to extend its sincere condolences to his family, relatives and friends.”