It was during the seventh leg of the classic Dakar Rally that French motorcyclist Pierre Cherpin, 52, crashed and was knocked unconscious.
"While being flown by ambulance from Jeddah to France, Pierre Cherpin died from the injuries caused by his fall during the seventh leg," the organizers wrote in a statement on their website.
Serious head injuries
On the Dakar Rally's website, organizers write that Cherpin crashed at 178 kilometers per hour and was unconscious when doctors found him.
He was then taken to a nearby hospital where serious head injuries were found.
He was then operated on urgently and placed in an artificial coma and his condition was then assessed as stable for a couple of days, but that he died when he was then to be transferred to a French hospital.
During the more than 40 years that the Dakar Rally has been run, about 60 people have died.
The text is updated