MADRID, 30 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Former cyclists Miguel Indurain, Óscar Pereiro and Luis León 'Luisle' Sánchez will lead the Kosner-Saltoki Home team, which presented this Tuesday the formation for the Titan Desert Morocco 2024, where they will break the record of registered runners in an edition with 62 runners in total.
The cyclists Miguel Unduráin, Óscar Pereiro, Luis León Sánchez and Prudencio Indurain were present at the presentation ceremony, while the former French professional cyclist Sylvain Chavanel did not attend but will be on the team. In addition, the general director of RPM and largest shareholder of the Titan World Series, Cristian Llorens, was present.
In last year's edition, the Kosner-Saltoki Home achieved a historic double thanks to the victories of Tessa Kortekaas in the women's overall and the victory in the mixed duo of Iosu Torres and Ainara Elbusto. In this current edition, participants will have to travel more than 600 kilometers over six stages in a test that will start on April 28 and end on May 3.
The five-time winner of the Tour de France, Miguel Indurain, said that after a dinner “they all ended up signing up for this Titan.” “I need a little bit to find that motivation and then you have a hard time, but I want to come back and see if I find this year the reason why I signed up,” he commented.
“If they have any problems we will help them, but at the end of the day cycling is an individual sport. You have to know how to navigate and I have never done it, and I am not going to learn now. In the desert, you have to find a life like “you can and manage the day to day. This year I am going to try to finish and enjoy the team we have, to finish and not have a very bad time, with that I am fine,” he expressed.
For his part, Óscar Pereiro considers that since he started in 2011 “the GPS was very difficult for him”, but it was not “complicated” to adapt to mountain biking because he dominated this category “a little”. “The difficult thing is spending so many hours without resting your legs and the psychological suffering of looking ahead and not knowing what is there,” analyzed the Galician.
“When you are good and decent it is wonderful to go and win, and when you are bad you clash with the person next to you. The cyclist has to have challenges and I approach it as such, because otherwise, you will not face it in the same way. A good “A road cyclist can participate, but to compete in the Titan Desert you have to know how to control the descents and know how to navigate,” he said.
For Luis León Sánchez, who is also making his debut in this test, it is clear that having been in the tests in Almería and Saudi Arabia is going to help him “a lot” in Morocco. “Sharing a team with these stars is incredible and we know that we are not going to something comfortable in Morocco, but we are going to try to learn as quickly as possible and go day by day, since for me everything is going to be new,” he said.
“I already had to learn something about sailing in Arabia and in Almería also to know how to go down quickly. I am forced to enjoy and it is very positive, because I have been a professional for 20 years in a small bubble and you do not live with people. Now, the format Titan helps you compete and live with them. You go alone with the bike, but when you finish the day you are close to the others,” he confirmed.
Miguel Indurain's brother, Prudencio Indurain, is also making his debut in the Titan Desert and said he was going “with enormous enthusiasm.” “Now it is a change of sector for me, where I do not have any experience, but the important thing is the team. I am more for others than for myself and we have to go knowing that we are going to have a bad time,” he mentioned.
“My plan is to learn quickly through hard work. Our physical trainers send us guidelines and that bug that appears in our legs is our limit. We are trying to follow those guidelines and since I know that we are in good hands, everything will turn out well. I'm going to try not to suffer too much and arrive with joy. I want to compete and recover that enthusiasm and I hope to become a Titan,” he noted.
Finally, the general director of RPM and largest shareholder of the Titan World Series, Cristian Llorens, highlighted that this edition is “very similar” to the previous one. “Last year there were 39 team participants and this year the challenge is with 62. They have great champions and people who come to finish and live the experience, so they perfectly embody the values of the Titan and for us having the team come is a blessing,” he concluded.