Luisle’ wins with pure class and becomes leader

What are the biggest challenges for a newcomer to the Škoda Titan Desert Morocco? Perhaps knowing how the body will react to living in the camp. Or face the always dreaded navigation sections. Or find out how he’ll handle the bike in the desert.

Some of these issues have not yet been solved. There has been no pure desert and navigation, for the moment, has been very situational. But that is no excuse for not valuing the merit of a rookie who has been able to come out of the first two stages as leader. Although, of course, everything changes if that rookie is Luis León Sánchez.

Yesterday, the rider from Murcia paid for the hazing by losing precious time in a shortcut that the veteran riders were able to take advantage of. But he came back with effort and that superb class on the bike that he has. Today, the class was enough to win.

However, the day started off shaky. Mechanical problems at the start made him fall behind the other riders. He relied on the team and, among superclassmen such as Miguel Induráin or Óscar Pereiro, they brought ‘Luisle’ back to the top.

From there to the finish line, pure leg-breaking terrain in the beautiful Saghro Mountains. An unforgettable stage that came in a tight sprint in which the Kosner Saltoki – Home rider won.

Luisle’ is the leader with the same time as Sergio Mantecón, whose usual navigation maneuvers sometimes went well and sometimes badly. Josep Betalú, has been relegated to third place due to mechanical problems and the hardness of the climbs.

If the men’s classification is a fight in which every hundredth counts, the women’s classification is being swept by the hurricane Tessa Kortekaas.

La neerlandesa hace buenos los pronósticos que la colocaban como gran favorita a la general. Aventaja ya en más de 30 minutos a Pilar Fernández, su inmediata perseguidora. Y eso que la Škoda Titan Desert Morocco aún no ha llegado a las etapas en las que Kortekaas es presuntamente más fuerte.

The Dutchwoman is making good the predictions that placed her as a great favorite for the GC. She is already more than 30 minutes ahead of Pilar Fernandez, her immediate pursuer. And the Škoda Titan Desert Morocco has not yet reached the stages in which Kortekaas is presumably stronger.

Today, on a new mountain day, the Cannondale ISB Sport rider was worried about the cold and the condition of her legs after yesterday’s effort. Gradually she warmed up and her legs certainly didn’t show any fatigue.

The rider, expert in flat terrain efforts and eager to get to the desert, comes out in the lead after two days of pure mountain. It remains to be seen what she will do when the terrain is, in theory, more favorable.