This Sunday the Skoda Titan Desert starts, the mountain bike race synonymous with adventure that traced its essence from the Paris-Dakar. Its ideologue and precursor was Juan Porcar, the first Spaniard to compete on a motorcycle in the famous test invented by the Frenchman Thierry Sabine. The original Titan has been raced since 2006 in the Moroccan desert, and although there are now homonymous replicas in Almería or Saudi Arabia, it remains a reference both for its toughness and the aesthetics of its courses.

It is a competition, yes, with its own cycling regulations, but the event remains faithful to the idea of ​​creating the right scenario for participants to experience something more than a typical race. You can get lost, be left stranded if the bike fails or have to call for help and evacuation if your strength does not hold up during one of the six scheduled race days. The appointment requires the ability to autonomously manage both the route and race incidents. Here there is no point in raising your finger and waiting for an assistance car to change bikes, ask for water or food.

Manuel Tajada has been Race Director since the first edition of the test. He is a mountain man born and raised in Benasque, in the heart of the Pyrenees, a guy also seduced by the desert, a space with little room for jokes. “This is a competition, it is the Dakar of mountain biking,” he emphasizes. “The first ones run a lot and since the route is not very technical, they fly with averages of 28 or 30 kilometers per hour, which is stupid considering that they ride a mountain bike on tracks and dunes. The latter, on the other hand, spend 12 hours on the bike. The event is so aspirational that people come who just want to finish and not compete… the same thing that happens with certain asphalt marathons. It is usually a tailgate of 20 or 30 cyclists who often even have to get off their bikes in sections where no one does… but everyone is welcome. Then there are about 20 cyclists who ride like guns and who orient themselves very well (among them Miguel Indurain and his brother Prudencio, Oscar Pereiro, Luis León Sánchez or Sylvain Chavanel), another 20 who hold out with the first until halfway through the stage and then 300 who They are very fit and walk a lot and have prepared very well.”

The first edition brought together 180 participants, who didn’t really know what they were getting into. The epic did the rest and in 2019, just before the closure due to the pandemic, there were 800 registered for the test. In 2024 there will be almost 500 of 26 different nationalities, integrated into a traveling circus where they rest in tents and the camp that shelters the participants is set up and dismantled almost every day: dining rooms, showers, shops, mechanical workshops, masseuses, transporters…

Currently, there are many international events similar to the Titan and new beautiful and well-organized races are proliferating. “We have not known how to fully internationalize it and the social and economic situation that the planet is experiencing does not help either. Even we offer destinations like Almería or Arabia, maybe Mexico next year, and we take clients away from ourselves. It is a widespread evil,” explains Tajada. It is also a sign of the enormous growth of cycling as not only a sporting option, but also a tourist option, the perfect excuse to leave home looking for alternatives to what is known. All in all, those who sign up for the Titan cannot be exactly classified as tourists, although their profile is evident: “The average age of those registered is high and the majority is well over 40,” says Tajada, and explains it: “it is a career that costs money and not everyone can afford it. In that sense it is like the Dakar.” Registration is around 2,000 euros.

On the other hand, the percentage of women in the test reaches only 10% of the total. “There are very few women. We have done many actions to attract them, but we have not achieved it to the extent we wanted. It’s hard to know why. It is true that it is an uncomfortable test. Perhaps it is that we have not managed to form a large group of women who encourage each other. Even elite runners claim that the wear and tear is so great that it harms them when facing other events on the calendar. It is a pending subject,” acknowledges the Director of the test.

The first two mountain stages are in the south of the Atlas, in its least abrupt part. Then there are two intermediate stages to enter the desert and the last two are in the Merzouga desert, which is home to a dune range as famous as Erg Chebbi. Although the test has historically moved through this territory, the Titan never repeats stages; look for new scenarios. This year the route exceeds 600 kilometers and accumulates a positive gradient of about 7,000 meters with enormous contrasts between the altitude, the Atlas canyons and the desert dunes.

“The desert terrain is very inhospitable, and it can be psychologically hard because sometimes it becomes monotonous. You feel very small. It’s like being at sea. Sand storms, heat, are recurring problems that make the cyclist very uncomfortable… but the charm is unquestionable… sometimes it is like mountain skiing,” Tajada illustrates. However, dropouts are not caused by heat, boredom or fatigue and dehydration. Nor the discomfort of the marathon stage in which cyclists have to carry a sleeping bag and mat and everything necessary to spend a night bivouac in a field that only offers water, dinner and a piece of canvas for shelter. “The main reason for abandonment is sores on the butt,” acknowledges the Director of the event. “Then, the gastrointestinal problems, even though all the water is bottled: the participants get sick from neglecting personal hygiene a little. Showering is the first thing, and once clean, eat. You have to be very strict and meticulous.”

Thierry Sabine created the lost Dakar with his motorcycle for three days in the Libyan desert. When the helicopter took him out of his hell, he had an idea to sell: “Those who come to Titan look for adventure more than pure competition,” explains Tajada. “There is also a great need to belong to a group. Many get the T for Titan tattooed, they are proud, they give value to the company and there is a great sense of community, of belonging to something. We have made it a very aspirational challenge. And beautiful.”

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