Tragic incident at Dakar: Loprais hit a fan, who died. A man’s life was extinguished and de facto my fault, says Czech racer

Tuesday’s stage of the Dakar Rally brought, besides great results of the Czech competitors, also one very negative thing, namely the death of a fan. 69-year-old Italian fan of the Dakar Rally got into a collision with the truck of Ales Loprais during the ninth stage, after crossing a sand dune. The fan died a few hours later.

Ales Loprais rode to another solid result on Tuesday’s stage, finishing fourth in the standings, eleven minutes behind stage nine winner Janus van Kasteren.

Despite this, the Czech racer still leads the truck category with a lead of almost 27 minutes over the Dutchman Van Kasteren. It was another great day for Loprais, although the final position may not be indicative of that.

Ales could have finished worse if he was very unlucky, but luckily he managed to avoid any problems with the muddy river. You can see how difficult Tuesday’s stage was for some of them in the attached twitter post.

In the evening, however, a very sad piece of news went around the world. A 69 Italian fan died on the Dakar after an incident with Loprais while climbing one of the sand dunes.

Loprais’ statement

The subsequent video, which, like this news, quickly went around the world. Along with the Czech driver’s statement, it was published by Rally Raid News on its Twitter account.

“We were about to go to bed when the commissioners pulled us out and told us that they had a record that we had a collision with a gentleman who was trying to take a picture of our Lady somewhere behind the dune and got injured. Then some two to three hours later he became nauseous and during the transport to the hospital he had a heart attack,” Loprais describes the whole situation.

“So a human life was extinguished and de facto my fault, because I was spinning the wheel. But I have to say I didn’t know about it.

It was a 69-year-old gentleman who came to see the Dakar, but unluckily found a place under the dune and we didn’t notice him at all. I would like to express my condolences to his family, loved ones and friends. I’m terribly sorry and it will drag on with me in my life,” concluded a completely distressed Loprais.

It is currently unclear whether the Czech rider will continue at this year’s Dakar. However, based on the latest information and a photo shared by Miloslav Janáček on his profile, it seems that Loprais is finished. His truck has been overturned on a sleeper.

Sources