Biker saves colleague's life during fourth Dakar stage

Paul Spierings became the hero of his class during the fourth stage of Dakar 2021. The Dutch motorcyclist had to resuscitate one of his colleagues after he had an accident with another motorcyclist. CS Santosh and Maurizio Gerini were the two involved and Spierings was the first motorcyclist on the scene.

Spierings explains to the Dutch Rallymaniacs what happened. "Santosh and Gerini passed me after they had been riding in my dust for a long time in the morning. When I got out of the tank stop I saw two motorbikes lying at right angles to the road, with both riders next to them. Gerini quickly got up again, but the other was lying down."

The Dutch biker had already noticed that something was wrong.

Spierings was quick to react and immediately took care of Santosh. "I put my bike right in front of it and pressed the alarm button. After that I went to resuscitate together with Gerini. When the helicopter arrived after fifteen minutes, fortunately, I felt a pulse again at Santosh. That was a huge relief at the time.

Gerini and Spierings knew what they had to do, as it was compulsory to take a first aid course to participate in the Dakar. "This allowed me to act well. However, I had never really resuscitated anyone before. I have heard that he is stable and that is nice to hear, at least he survived."

Spierings ended the stage calmly and finished in 42nd place.