Dakar Rally organizers yesterday hunted for clues to the cause of the death of motorbike rider Michal Hernik that plunged the race into mourning after only three days.
The 39-year-old Polish rider’s body was found 300m from the desert track with no apparent injury or damage to his motorbike that would indicate an accident, race director Etienne Lavigne said.
Lavigne added that Hernik had no helmet on when he was found.
Photo: EPA
Organizers sent a helicopter to look for Henrik after he failed to arrive at the finish line of Tuesday’s stage between the Argentine towns of Villa Carlos Paz and Chilecito. His satellite tracker had stopped sending signals.
The Pole was taking part in the Dakar Rally for the first time. His was the fifth death since the rally was moved to South America in 2009 over security concerns in the Sahara region and the 24th since the race was created in 1979.
Orlando Terranova sustained the Mini team’s winning streak by claiming his second stage win to move third overall in the auto standings, led by teammate Nasser al-Attiyah.
Al-Attiyah, the 2011 champion and winner of Monday’s stage, finished fifth in Tuesday’s stage which included 284km of specials.
South Africa’s Giniel de Villiers, picked up his third podium finish in three days, ahead of another Toyota driven by Saudi Arabia’s Alrahji Zayed, to stay second overall.
In the motorbike section, Austria’s Matthias Walkner was a surprise winner of his first Dakar stage, ahead of KTM teammate and reigning champion Marc Coma and overall leader Joan Barreda Bort of Spain.
“It was really dangerous because we were on river beds with a lot of stones and broken up tracks all day,” Barreda Bort said.
About 34 vehicles failed to start on Tuesday after falling victim to Monday’s longest stage, among them the 4x4 of French duo Catherine Houles and Sandrine Ridet, the only all-female team in the event.
For Japanese veteran Sugawara Yoshimasa, 73 and taking part in his 33rd Dakar Rally, the race goes on, with yesterday’s fourth stage.
When Paddy Dwyer arrived in China in 1976, crowds jostled to catch a glimpse of him and his companions — the first Western soccer team to play in the country. China was emerging from the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, and on the brink of market reforms that would take the country from economic stagnation to explosive growth. “All we could see was lines of people running beside our bus, trying to look in the windows, to see their first visual of a white person,” he said. “It was all bicycles,” he said. “There were very few cars to be seen.” Dwyer,
Jannik Sinner continued his quest to become the first man in history to win five Masters 1000 tournaments in a row with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Danish qualifier Elmer Moller at the Madrid Open on Sunday. The world leader extended his winning streak to 19 matches, a run that began early March in Indian Wells, and he has captured 24 consecutive victories at the Masters 1000 level, dating back to the Paris Masters last October. Searching for a maiden title at this level on clay, Sinner advanced to the round of 16 at the Caja Magica with a 77-minute performance against
Tennis players are facing an unexpected opponent at the Madrid Open. A stomach virus or food poisoning has affected Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Marin Cilic and others, raising concerns. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka avoided an upset by Naomi Osaka on the court on Monday and said she is trying to avoid illness by sticking to a diet of chicken breasts, rice and salad. The rumor among the players was bad shrimp tacos were to blame. Sabalenka knocked on wood for luck and said, “So far, so good. I heard that I have to avoid those tacos,” she laughed, adding “I stick to the
Some of Clearlake Capital Group’s largest investors are growing increasingly concerned about how much time the company’s co-founders are spending on sports investments as they have struggled to complete the fundraising for the private equity firm’s latest flagship fund. One of Clearlake’s co-founders, Behdad Eghbali, has been spending what some investors described as a disproportionate amount of time on the firm’s investment in Chelsea Football Club in recent months. Now, co-founder Jose E. Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones, are nearing a record US$3.9 billion deal to acquire the San Diego Padres. That personal investment by Feliciano has set off the latest
RSS