Paulo Gonçalves

Paulo Gonçalves (; 5 February 1979 – 12 January 2020) was a Portuguese rally racing motorcycle rider. He won the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship in 2013.

Early life Gonçalves was born on 5 February 1979, in Gemeses, a civil parish in the Braga District city of Esposende in Portugal. He finished among the top ten competitors, and was the runner-up in 2015, Marc Coma being the only competitor ahead of him. and also from 2013 to 2019, Gonçalves raced for the Honda team in the Dakar Rally, before moving to the Hero MotoCorp team in 2020. From 2010 to 2012, he was with the BMW-owned Husqvarna Motorcycles team outfit. He was less than a month away from his 41st birthday.

After his death, the municipality of Esposende issued a note of regret, highlighting his career as a racer, and regarded him as an Esposende ambassador to the world. His death was also mourned by the President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who stated that Gonçalves "died trying to achieve the dream of winning one of the hardest and most dangerous rally events in the world, in which he was always a worthy representative of Portugal, reaching second place in 2015".