RALLY DAKAR 2024

Toni Vingut abandons the Dakar after suffering rib, arm and tailbone fractures

Toni Vingut, our only representative in the quad category, had to abandon the Dakar today, during the fifth stage, held between Al-Hofuf and Shubaytah, with 118 timed kilometers.

The Ibizan native had mechanical problems on the quad during the very long 500-kilometre link prior to the stage and came out unfocused. "My quad stopped at the junction, it seemed like it was due to an electrical problem. I was able to repair it and get right to the exit, before the cars, but there it failed again," he told RNE.

"I came out unfocused because of all this and at the beginning of the stage we had stretches of dunes behind a fast track. At the end of a descent, with the sun, I couldn't see the flat area well, I turned on the gas but it wasn't flat: there was a cut dune." The blow was very strong: "I found myself flying, the height was so great that I fell," he explained.

"The result of the accident is multiple fractures in the ribs ("I don't know if they told me five or six," he managed to say, still under the effects of painkillers), the right arm and the tailbone."

Although he was initially going to be transferred to a medical center in the Saudi capital, he will finally be admitted to a specialized hospital, Al-Hofuf, to initially reduce the open fracture of his arm: "I have been told that since it is an open fracture, urgent surgery is required. "I'll have to spend a few days here before returning home."

Reporting: Enrique Naranjo