Two conclusions can already be drawn from NEOM, that unexplored Saudi megaproject that aims to lead the future. The first is that the wind, to a greater or lesser extent (today, with gusts of more than 30 km/h), is always present.; the second, that the three strongest riders in the NEOM Titan Desert Saudi Arabia are David Valero, Haimar Zubeldia and Julen Zubero. The three reached the second stage leading the general classification and, with victory for the third (“there is an unwritten rule of cycling. We have been teammates all the time and it has been decided that way”, he revealed), they come out of it in the same way, with a joint entry in goal. “Victory is always good, but even more so when you come with two cycling superclasses and great people. They have helped me alot. It has been a bit of a crazy race and it has been elimination. We have been shelling out the group ”, celebrated the Basque, a professional between 2005 and 2007, after the victory, his second in Saudi territory (the other, in 2020). Ariadna Ródenas, for her part, in the female category, has already been two out of two in the 2022 edition, with the general on her wheels.
After the slowest day in the history of the Titan, today the runners started as if they wanted to make up for lost time. In some sections, very undulating, even putting the race cars in trouble. In the middle of an inhospitable desert, in which the bushes grow sideways due to the wind, the canyons serve as a shield. Inside, everything is more welcoming. Inside, you can fly. Under a less burning sun than yesterday, they were intertwined, like an army to protect the cyclists, in a stage of 104 kilometers and 741 meters of rapid unevenness and a landscape that, after two stages, can already be described: long plains and a crystalline sea completely surrounded by mountains.
Because of him, no one rolls like Valero. And nobody sticks to him like Zubeldia. With Zubero as a guest, both returned to break the race about 50 kilometers from the end. “Yes, we have had time to talk. It’s nice to meet him, he’s a great runner and I’m learning a lot”, joked the man from Granada at the finish line. With many of the applicants (Josep Betalú, Roberto Bou, Oriol Colomé…) virtually ruled out for the general, they are doomed to be fellow travelers. Julen, from the same team as Haimar, wants to consolidate himself in the crew. “Yesterday I passed the technical zone first, but with the legs of these… I could not enter by a little. They already have their advantage and it will be decided there. I think I’m going to take advantage to be in third place, I have to hold this pace and, if I can reach the finish line with them, well, a joy”, analyzed Zubero.
On the first day with mountainous difficulties, the excursion began to take shape out of control. Zubero, Zubeldia and Colomé, getting off the bike, chose to follow the most up-to-date version of the track; Valero, being one of the few riders on the saddle throughout the stage, made a detour until facing the main difficulty of the day, a loose stone wall with up to 25% unevenness. Zubero, Zubeldia and Oriol Colomé, after raising it, lowered it with about a minute’s advantage over David, who, with his gallop on the bicycle, a cadence of insulting ease, connected in a few kilometers. “There has been a turning point, a dry river by which the original track could be shortened. There the group has been divided a lot ”, analyzed Zubero. “In another hard climb, I started and I reached them”, explained Valero, who will defend his leader’s red jersey in the queen stage, this Thursday. Among all the guns, he is still the tallest.
Titan Desert Ranking | Stage 2 / General
1st Julen Zubero (Krypteia) – 04:02:23 / valero -08:30:04
2nd David Valero (BH-Templo Cafés) – at 1″ / zubeldia -mt
3rd Haimar Zubeldia (Krypteia) – mt / zubero – at 11′
4th Josep Betalú (KH7) – at 9′ / Quiles – at 21′
5th Vicente Quiles (Tamayo) – mt / Betalú – at 27′
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1st Ariadna Ródenas (Kenzasport) – 04:59:10 / ródenas -10:33:31
2nd Muriel Bohuet (-) – at 27′ / Bouhet – at 49′