PARIS • French motorcyclist Pierre Cherpin has died from his injuries after a fall in Saudi Arabia during the Dakar Rally, becoming the notoriously perilous race's first fatality this year, the organisers said yesterday.

Cherpin, 52, died during his medical transfer to France after he crashed at 178kmh last Sunday.

"During his transfer by medical plane from Jeddah to France, Pierre Cherpin died from the injuries caused by his fall during the seventh stage from Ha'il to Sakaka on Jan 10," a statement said.

Portuguese rider Paulo Goncalves died last year during the race, which bills itself as the "world's toughest and biggest rally". Dutchman Edwin Straver also died some days later as a result of his injuries from his bike crash.

Cherpin, who was competing in his fourth Dakar Rally, was found unconscious after his crash and taken to hospital in Sakaka before he was airlifted to Jeddah.

After emergency neurosurgery, the entrepreneur and sailing enthusiast had been in an induced coma and was in a stable condition ahead of his transfer to Lille.

"I am an amateur, I don't want to win but to discover landscapes that I would never have had the opportunity to see otherwise," he said earlier, according to the statement. "Everything is exciting: riding the bike, living your passion, getting to know yourself."

Last Sunday, Dakar Rally legend Hubert Auriol, the first person to win the race in a car and on a bike, died at the age of 68 after a long battle with heart disease.

News of the death of the man nicknamed "The African" filtered through during that day's stage, with current Dakar Rally director David Castera, a former competitor, saying that Auriol's death "has come as a bit of a shock".

The race ended yesterday, as French veteran Stephane Peterhansel took a record-extending 14th Dakar Rally victory and his eighth in the car category.

The 55-year-old X-Raid Mini driver first won the endurance event on a motorcycle in 1991.

Argentinian Kevin Benavides, riding a Honda, won the motorcycle category after the 12th and final stage that ended in Jeddah.

The event started in 1978 as a race from Paris to Senegal's capital Dakar but was moved from Africa for safety reasons in 2009. It is now run entirely in Saudi Arabia after a stint in South America.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS