Kortekaas and ‘Luisle’ triumphs in NEOM
20/11/2024At the sight of a ghost there are those who are frightened, block and flee in terror. At the sight of a ghost, there are those who stand firm, become strong and confront it. Tessa Kortekaas is undoubtedly in this second group.
Today, the Dutch cyclist has once again completed one of those exhibitions of which only she is capable. She came in as the first woman and tenth cyclist overall and has practically sealed her fifth victory in Titan Desert races.
All this, moreover, in the same stage that last year ended her immaculate performance in Titan World Series and forced her to withdraw.
Cannondale ISB Sport rider has had that moment very present in her head. That pain, that frustration, that fear have been the engine that has encouraged her to keep pushing.
Over 100 kilometers that the Dutchwoman has completed gritting her teeth and leaving behind 240 cyclists, men and women, who can not compete with a hurricane that wears a blue leader’s jersey. The last 20 kilometers she was alone crossing desert and sand to the finish line.
There she arrived jubilant. Her immediate pursuer, Pilar Fernandez, is over an hour away and nothing seems to be able to stop Kortekaas. The woman who is less than 150 kilometers away from making her legend in the Titan World Series even bigger.
LUISLE’ UPS THE ANTE
Luis León Sánchez didn’t want to fall short in his exhibition either. The Spaniard arrived yesterday with an unusual attitude for him. Yes, the calm that he always has was there, but he was a little more quiet or concentrated than he has been in other Titan World Series.
Yesterday he felt good, but some mechanical problems and the soft and rocky terrain of the stage made him distance himself from the rest of the contenders. He managed to recover and lose only a minute with the race leader.
Today, once he overcame the cycle that was hard to cycle on, which forced him to put his foot down on a couple of occasions, he decided to “mimic Pogačar”, as he joked when he arrived at the finish line. Shortly after kilometer 30, when the hardest part began, he attacked.
It has been 70 kilometers that have bordered on excellence on a mountain bike. In them, he opened a gap of more than 10 minutes with the rest of the GC favorites, who were being left behind in a constant trickle.
Only Oriol Colomé, red jersey until today, and Haimar Zubeldia have managed to maintain that margin of 10 minutes, the rest have been left even further behind. Luisle’ is the leader and with a big margin. He is on his way to his second Titan World Series victory of the year, after the one achieved in Morocco, and he does it ‘a la Pogačar’: completing a day of exhibitions.
