Edwin Straver didn't make it. The 48-year-old Dutch driver died eight days after his crash during the eleventh and penultimate stage of the Dakar 2020 in Saudi Arabia. His death adds to that of another centaur, the Portuguese Paulo Gonçalves, who fell in the seventh stage.
Straver, an experienced motorcyclist, was in his third participation in the Dakar and last year he had won in the Original category, that of the drivers without assistance.
He had fallen at a speed of about 50 kilometers per hour, reporting a fracture of some cervical vertebrae and a 10-minute cardiac arrest. The Dakar medical services managed to revive him on the spot, then transfer him to the hospital in Riad, where he remained until Wednesday, when he was transferred to the Netherlands. But his condition did not improve and yesterday news had circulated that he was in a state of brain death. The death was confirmed today.
