2024 route announced
15 de December de 2023Casa Árabe, in Madrid, hosted this Thursday the Škoda Titan Desert Morocco 2024 presentation. An event that has served to announce the route of this year’s edition of the race, as well as all the sporting and logistical news.
The presentation was attended by Jesús García, Titan World Series CEO; Joan Massallé, Sponsorships and Events Manager of Škoda Spain; Manuel Tajada, sports director of the Škoda Titan Desert Morocco; and Luis León Sánchez, cyclist of the Astana Qazaqstan team and ambassador of the race.
The route will consist of more than 600 kilometers and about 7,000 meters of accumulated altitude gain over six days. The Škoda Titan Desert Morocco 2024 will start in Boumalne Dades on April the 28th and will end at its traditional finish line in Maadid, on May the 3rd.
A format similar to the one adopted in 2023, with two very mountainous first stages, close to the Atlas Mountains. After that, the Titans peloton will move its challenge to the desert, with four long, rolling stages with different challenges each day.
Key features, such as the Škoda Challenge timed section, which rewards 60 seconds bonus to the fastest female and mal riders to complete it; the marathon stage, in which participants will not have mechanical or physiotherapy help at the end of the stage; or navigation sections without track or marked course will return one more year.
SPORTING SHOW
Last year’s edition was one of the most open and exciting in recent memory, with two first-time winners in Titan World Series races: Roberto Bou and Tessa Kortekaas.
“We will reproduce a formula similar to the one we already did in 2023 because the participants loved that incredible mix of landscapes and terrains,” explained Jesús García. “Obviously, there are always novelties and surprises, unprecedented sectors and new adventures. We’ll leave that to the titans themselves to discover”.
Something that will not be new will be the involvement of Škoda in the race, which is a fundamental part for years. “We are associated with the Škoda Titan Desert Morocco because there is much that unites us: the love for cycling, the taste for different experiences and that unique way of understanding the sport as a way of life,” said Joan Massallé.
At the sporting level, Manuel Tajada has emphasized one of the great novelties of the edition: the time bonus for the winners at the finish line. “We want to give an incentive to the sprints. Every year we have more and more level among the leading men and women, so we have to find ways for strategy to continue to be a differential factor, in the same way that technique or physique on the bike is.”
And of skill, class and victories the Astana Qazaqstan team rider Luis León Sánchez knows a lot. ‘Luisle’, who already knows what it’s like to take part in the Škoda Titan Desert Almería and the NEOM Titan Desert Saudi Arabia, will be an ambassador for the race in Morocco. “This is where this concept was born and it is the most famous and challenging of the three. For me they are being incredible experiences and I hope I can be there in front giving war also in April, but, above all, enjoying with the people.”
