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The Dakar Rally is arguably among the most rigorous and challenging of all raid rallying events around the world.
An annual rally raid event organized by the Amaury Sport Organization, the event known to be physically taxing and feisty for the many ups and downs it observes during its course, is famous for attracting more rookies than experienced rally riders and drivers.
And over the course of the past few years, its charisma has only increased.
This year, team Hero's CS Santosh, who made it to Stage 5 and seemed ready to progress ahead collided with a dead end in fortune and found his participation in the event ended a bit abruptly.
So here is what happened.
Owing to a nasty crash that he sustained in Stage 5, Hero's CS Santosh, who exited, will no longer continue in the rally.
Having turned out to be the toughest stage in the entire contest as of yet, Santosh's incident happened between waypoints 4 and 5.
Thankfully stable and now recovering in a nearby medical facility, Santosh had to be airlifted and evacuated from the scene. This was, interestingly, his fifth attempt at the Dakar Rally.
And that told, it wasn't that Santosh's severe accident was the only mishap.
So far, Stage 5 has claimed other casualties as well, among whom were Hero riders Oriol Mena and Joaquim Rodrigues, who reported multiple crashes and yet, somehow found a way to continue undeterred.
They shall continue tomorrow, 14 January 2019.
Popular news portal based in India, NDTV reported more on the Dakar Rally in its current conception and shared the following:
Oriol Mena continued to be the fastest rider at Hero but survived a few crashes as well. A nasty one saw the rider lose his bearings briefly but he recovered to complete the stage in 16th place and 12th overall.
Things were pretty worse for teammate JRod who hurt his shoulder after hitting against a rock but managed to get back up and cross the finish line in 18th place. This significantly moves the rider up in the overall standings in 28th position.
