Catalan motorcycle racer Carles Falcón has died from injuries he sustained in a crash at the Dakar Rally 2024 a week ago, his team said Monday.
The TwinTrail Racing Team said on Instagram the neurological damage caused by the cardiac arrest Falcón sustained in the crash in Saudi Arabia was ‘irreversible’.
The 45-year-old Falcón was taken from the site of the 7 January crash by helicopter, in a critical condition with severe trauma to his brain. He was later transferred from Riyadh to a hospital in Spain, where he died on Monday.
‘On 15 January Carles left us. The medical team has confirmed that the neurological damage caused by the cardiorespiratory arrest at the time of the accident is irreversible,’ his team said.
Falcón and his team-mate Isaac Feliú, who also suffered a serious accident in 2022, had only just returned to the sport this year. The pair started a YouTube channel during the pandemic where they explained their passion for the rally, and eventually started gaining sponsors. After competing in 2022 and having to abandon the race after Feliú’s accident, they decided to return in 2024 with a renewed passion.
Falcón is the third Spanish competitor to die in the sport, after Tomás Urpí lost his life in 1996 and José Manuel ‘El Carni’ Pérez died in 2005.
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