2020 Dakar-the saddest day

This morning our time Paulo Gonçalves was killed at KM 273 on stage 7 of the Dakar. He was running his 13th edition of the rally and reports say he intended this to be his last. The Gonk was well loved by all for being a true sportsman and all around nicest guy. All of the ADV F5 crew are gutted and stage 8 of the Dakar has been cancelled for bikes and quads in homage to Paulo. We will miss speedy, he was one of the finest racers in the Dakar for many years. Godspeed.

[video]https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-Pc4Mqdx/0/8b6b21c0/O/i-Pc4Mqdx.jpg[/video]
This year swapping an engine by himself out in the middle of nowhere was damned impressive!

What a shame.

RIP

Wayne Koppa
Grayling, MI
#71,449

RIP Paulo...

This shows how difficult and hard the Dakar really is, even for the most experienced of riders...

I tried to put up the video of him swapping his engine but it's been pulled already from Youtube, you can watch it here:
http://www.ridetherock.com/index.php?threads/dakar-2020-the-saddest-day.1706/

Tonight’s coverage of the Dakar on NBCSN began with a nice tribute to Paulo.
RIP
om

it's been 20+ pages nonstop on the the F5irehose on ADV. He was one of the favourites by far.

I can't say I was familiar with his career, but I remember his name from so many leader boards watching the Dakar over the years.
Sad day for all racers.
Dakar hasn't had a death since 2015. The race is safer, but not safe.

Rally racing is not about safe per say, it's about understanding the risks and making the choice to race or not. Certainly there are some things to make overall safety better such as Iritrack but people want to make their own choices on what they want to risk.