Miguel A. Herguedas Madrid

Madrid

Updated Tuesday, January 30, 2024-17:37

The dunes, the stone sections, the mountains, the contrasts of the desert in its endless expanse, with 600 kilometers and 7,000 meters of accumulated unevenness spread over six stages. The menu of the Skoda Titan Desert 2024, which will cross Morocco, has once again convinced

Miguel Indurain

, who will start at the head of the Kosner - Saltoki Home team, which also includes cyclists of the caliber of

Óscar Pereiro

,

Luis León Sánchez

,

Sylvain Chavanel

and

Pruden Indurain

. "It will be my first participation in the over 60 category, but my goal will be to try to finish and enjoy the team. As long as I don't have a very bad time, it's enough for me," said the five-time Tour champion during the team presentation in Madrid.

Why has Indurain returned if in 2023, after reaching the goal, it promised one and no more? "I still don't know for sure. The fact is that we had a New Year's Eve dinner with the team and a week later, we all signed up again," explained

Miguelón

, fascinated by the inhospitable landscapes of the Sahara and by the coexistence in the platoon "so that everyone finishes."

The Titan Morocco, where physical and mental limits are bordered, will start on April 28 in Boumaine Dades and will end at the traditional finish line of Maadid on May 3. "It will be an edition with a little bit of everything, with a presence in the Atlas mountain range, dunes and some news in terms of supplies," said

Cristian Llorens

, the largest shareholder of the

Titan World Series

. An adventure that transcends sporting limits to become an inner journey, where the values ​​of camaraderie weigh on others.

"The GPS doesn't work with me"

"You have a bad time and at the same time you want to come back. Let's see if this year I find the reason to sign up again," said Indurain, aware of his limitations in the scorching Moroccan sun, where temperatures have reached 48ºC. "In the sand I'm doing poorly, the GPS doesn't work with me, so I limit myself to following whoever is in front of me. I have never used the navigator and now I'm not going to learn. With how easy it would be to place a sign, warning how many kilometers are left," the Navarrese joked. You have to find life as best you can.

Óscar Pereiro

, on the other hand, has much more experience in the use of GPS, given that his first participation in the Titan dates back to 2011. "I also tell you that that year he looked like

Paco Martínez Soria

in the desert. In this race, yes "You don't know how to navigate, you have nothing to do to fight for victory," admitted the winner of the 2006 Tour, who will begin training on Thursday after three months without touching the bike. "It's not just about the difficulty with sand, rocks or climbing steps. I think the worst thing is the psychological suffering of looking up and not seeing anything on the horizon," analyzed the cyclist from Mos.

Even more options to ride at the front, says Luisle, 40, who takes the Titan as a phase of the complex retirement process, completed last September. "We want to learn as quickly as possible and see if we can hold up to those in front. I am the rookie on the team and I have to go day by day. In Morocco everything is going to be new for me," warned the winner of four stages of the Tour, between 2008 and 2012, who last year already dabbled in mountain biking in stages at the NEOM Titan Desert in Arabia and the Titan Almería.