Spanish motorbike rider Carles Falcón flown to hospital in ‘serious condition’ after Dakar Rally collision

On Monday, race officials said Spanish motorbike rider Carles Falcón was evacuated to hospital in a “serious condition” after falling during the second stage of the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia.

“A fellow entrant who was behind him immediately alerted the organisation, which sent a medical helicopter to extract the injured rider,” the statement added.

“He was in serious condition and has been airlifted to Al Duwadimi Hospital. More information is expected in the coming hours.”

The statement said the event happened around stage kilometer 448.

The Spanish driver was “unconscious and without a pulse” following the incident, but physicians resuscitated him, according to Twin Trail Racing.

The team reported a C2 vertebrae fracture in Falcón “that requires urgent surgery.”

“Over the next few days Carles will be kept sedated to control the development of the edema he has suffered in his head,” the statement added.

Born in 1978 in Tarragona, Catalonia, Falcón has “always been surrounded by motorbikes,” Twin Trail said. He finished the 2022 Dakar Rally.

A lengthy and difficult endurance race, the Dakar Rally runs 7,891 kilometers from AlUla to Yanbu in Saudi Arabia this year.