ANKARA

Portuguese rider Paulo Goncalves died after a car crash during the Dakar Rally's 7th stage in Saudi Arabia on Sunday. 

The 40-year-old motorcyclist suffered the fatal accident after 276 kilometers (171 miles) of the day’s ride.

"The organizers received an alert at 10:08 [0708GMT] and dispatched a medical helicopter that reached the biker at 10:16 and found him unconscious after going into cardiac arrest," said a statement on the rally's official website.

"Following resuscitation efforts in situ, the competitor was taken by helicopter to Layla Hospital, where he was sadly pronounced dead," the statement added.

Goncalves was taking part in his 13th Dakar. He made his debut in 2006 and he was a runner-up to Marc Coma in 2015.

The 2013 cross-country rallies world champion was sitting in 46th place overall after stage 6 of the 2020 Dakar.