Caldecott dies on Dakar

Repsol KTM rider Andy Caldecott has died on Stage 9 of the Dakar after crashing at high speed.

The Australian crashed his bike on one of the fast sections of the 599km stage and was pronounced dead by the emergency medical team just before 12 noon GMT.

Caldecott, 41, was a well-respected rally rider, currently holding 10th overall in the Dakar and previously having won the Australian Safari four times in a row.

He had been drafted in at the last minute to replace Jordi Duran on the Repsol KTM team as Marc Coma’s backup rider.

As a tribute to Caldecott the riders have voted to cancel the special stage on stage 10 and will instead just ride to the start point of stage 11.

KTM has been at the fore-front of promoting safety on the Dakar after the deaths of KTM riders Fabrizio Meoni and José Manuel Perez in the 2005 event and have helped make sweeping changes to the rules for 2006 including new speed limits and longer rests.

The manufactuer has left it up to inidividual teams to decide whether to continue but it is still unclear whether they will support the race in the future.

Click here to see Eurosport’s coverage of Caldecott’s win on stage 3 of the 2006 Dakar.

KTM rider Isidre Esteve Pujol was also injured on the stage after two seperate crashes, needing to be flown to hospital after the second.

A KTM spokesman said: “The terrible accidents in the past 2 years caused us to start the race with mixed feelings and question our rally engagement. The organisers of the Dakar have tried to make the rally safer together with several manufacturers. A speed limit has been adopted, a GPS system which enables each rider to be located and to allow him to communicate with the organiser. Riders can have more rests now due to shorter tank stops. It was a very competetive rally until yesterday’s day of rest but today we were brutally pulled out of our dream to make this rally safe. Our thoughts are with Andy and his family.”