Looser: “Always try”
This is the sport’s hardness. You can lead for 624 of the 626 kilometers of a race and lose it all on the last straight. But that is also the spectacular nature of it. Konny Looser and Francisco Herrero, two names that for five days had always been written the other way round, came in together at 623rd kilometer of the race with a three-second gap in the GC. That’s when the Swiss tried it.
It was a finish he already knew from the ŠKODA Titan Desert Morocco 2021 edition. He took a different route in the hope that Herrero wouldn’t follow his wheel and see what might happen. “It was a 50 – 50,” Looser himself explained at the finish. And sometimes the last bullet is the good one.
Just 15″ was enough for the Tamayo Team rider to overtake the man who had worn the red jersey the whole race. Bibs 1 and 522, first and second last, close a race that was decided by the smallest margin in the history of the race: 12 seconds.
The stage winner was Pablo Guerrero, Herrero’s teammate, who took the fourth win in six stages for Cannondale TB team riders.
Looser: “If this Titan Desert shows me anything, it’s that you always have to try. This is incredible because there have been times when I almost give up.”
General classification male
1. KONNY LOOSER (TAMAYO TEAM) – 21:37:49
2. FRANCISCO HERRERO (CANNONDALE TB) – 21:38:01
3. JULEN ZUBERO (KRYPTEIA) – 21:45:17
4. PAU MARZA (THE WHITE ANGEL BY SANTIVERI) – 21:54:52
5. GUILLEM MUÑOZ (EDIBIKES) – 21:56:57
6. ORIOL COLOME – 22:03:28
7. LUIS ENRIQUE LOPEZ (KH7) – 22:18:27
8. PABLO GARRIDO (GOBIK FACTORY TEAM) – 22:23:26
9. TOMAS MISSER (SKODA WE LOVE CYCLING MONDRAKER) – 22:27:13
10. PAU SALVÀ (FACTOR8 CYCLING PROJECT) – 22:46:14
Ramírez: “Here I am again”
Although the fight was less contested in the women’s classification, Anna Ramirez made history. With her absolute control of the race and superiority over her rivals, the KH7 rider has become the first woman to achieve four GCs in the ŠKODA Titan Desert Morocco.
Ramirez has a tyrannical domination of the race. She has won all four editions in which she has participated: 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2022. This year, she has also done it with ease and intelligence in the reading of the race.
The Catalan made a solo attack in the first stage that gave her enough gap to allow her to temporize and follow the wheels of her rivals until Maadid. Ramírez left nothing to chance. He controlled what was going on around her and left with three stage victories to her name.
Little can be blamed on the second classified, Vera Looser, who tried every day, but could do little against a rider who is already the most successful in the history of the ŠKODA Titan Desert Morocco
Ramírez: “Teamwork has been very important, but it is true that I was strong. Here I am again, very happy to have achieved this great challenge for the fourth time”
General classification female
1. ANNA RAMÍREZ (KH7) – 24:42:36
2. VERA LOOSER (TAMAYO TEAM) – 24:48:33
3. RAMONA GABRIEL (GARMIN-LAPIERRE) – 25:36:43
4. MARTA TORA (CANNONDALE TB) – 27:36:51
5. ARIADNA RODENAS (AZONA) – 27:39:52
6. ZUZANA BOHACOVA (ŠKODA AUTO WE LOVE CYCLING TEAM) – 28:06:11
7. ALBA SOLES (EDIBIKES) – 28:38:23
8. CRISTINA PUJOL (GHOST) – 28:47:38
9. MARIA LUISA CUENCO (QUIRONPREVENCION) – 30:21:51
10. MISHA SEKULOVA (ŠKODA AUTO WE LOVE CYCLING TEAM) – 30:36:34
What about next year?
The adventure does not stop. The ŠKODA Titan Desert Morocco 2023 already has a start date: April the 29th. Six stages and seven days of adventure for hundreds of Titans to live firsthand the experience of their lives. The registration opening will be soon announced.
