Titan Desert 2020, second stage. Josep Betalú set his leadership
Josep Betalú, cyclist of KH7-Logifrio team wins alone the second stage of the Titan Desert 2020 Almería and is placed leader. Silvia Roura is already the second classified in the general classification after Clàudia Galicia. The team, equipped with our GPS Cross and Trail 2, continues enjoying the competition.
Tabernas, 03/11/2020
Josep Betalú, leader of the KH7 LogifrIo team, four times winner of the Titan Desert in a row and the main candidate for victory on the fifteenth anniversary of the race, has shown why he is considered the king of the desert. Meanwhile Miguel Induráin, both father and son, were excited to cross the finish line.
Betalú, yesterday, after having finished fourth on the first day and just two seconds behind the winner of the stage, was the winner of the second stage. To do this, he had to fight a duel with one of the best Spanish MTB cyclists, the spanish Sergio Mantecón, who was ninth in the last race of the specialty world championship. But the strength of the team and Josep’s legs and head led him to victory.
Iván Díaz, Josep’s “squire”, paved the way for him with a last relay after which Sergio Mantecón and Josep Betalú himself escaped towards the goal alone. Mantecón punctured and that separated him from the fight for the final victory. Josep thus fulfilled the initial objective of the day.
“On the team meeting, I already told everyone that I wanted a fast race, to start pulling hard to see what would happen. I knew there was a port and I was waiting to see what would happen and see who has good legs and who does not. Today whoever was better won, there was no strategy ”.
Josep Betalú
He reached the goal with just over a minute away from the chasing group, which included the first two, Jesús del Nero and Julen Zubero. Now it is the KH7 Logifrío who leads the general, but he is not confident.
“Day by day. On the Titan, all the stages have to be marked in red, that’s what I have learned over the years. When you least think about it, you get a runner ahead and you can lose everything. You can never get lost on the Titan. I have good equipment and good legs to fight ”.
Josep Betalú
Oriol Colomé entered that same group, who was separated by a mechanical failure yesterday from achieving a much better result. Iván Díaz was eleventh, Sergi Escobar entered the 24th, Sylvain Chavanel in the 28th position and Genís Zapater the 36th. After having suffered a lot yesterday, Miguel Induráin, father and son, arrived at 3:01’15 and 3:01’41 in 37th and 38th positions.
“Today has been a wonderful stage. The sections that ran through sand were much more cyclable than those of yesterday’s stage. “
Miguel Induráin
Sílvia Roura places second
Sílvia Roura was also very satisfied at the finish line. The young cyclist, winner of the Titan Series Saudi Arabia, was third in the first stage, but after the great performance of the second she has climbed one position and is now second after the world championship Clàudia Galicia, also sponsored by KH7. Clàudia is intractable. Every day she leads the stage with solvency and wins the stage five minutes away and goes straight to her second victory in the Desert after the one achieved in 2013. Sílvia Roura is, along with Ramona Gabriel, her main rival. Today, the assault on second place in the standings was immediate. Already in the first step control, the young runner and medical student was ahead of Ramona Gabriel, Olga Echenique and María Díaz by two minutes, a time that was increasing until the end.
Finally, another member of the KH7 LogifrIo team made it to the Top10. The Andorran Marta Ballús completed the race in 4h18 ’and continues to enjoy her debut in the Titan Desert despite the fact that a fault in her gear left her unable to compete 10 kilometers from the finish line, having to reach the finish line pushing her bike.
Josep Betalú: “The race went super well, Iván Díaz gave me a very good last stint and I continued and I was able to go with Sergio Mantecón. We understood each other well, Sergio deserves a lot of respect for me, he is a great rider, someone who comes from the top 10 of a world championship, it is something to take into account. I have seen that I had good legs, he has a lot of vision so I have been studying him and finally he has had the bad luck that when we were riding strong he suffered a puncture. At this point I looked back and I saw that the group was coming, so I thought that I had 15 km to go until I reached the finish line and that I couldn’t wait for them. I pushed myself to the finish line and I was able to set a good time, every extra second is good for the general classification.
I put myself first but we are not done yet, there are strong riders. I have a good team, so I am confident. Iván Díaz is sacrificing himself 100% for me when I could fight for victory. On the Titan you can never get lost ”.
Silvia Roura: “Today second stage of the Titan Desert. A shorter but very tough stage, where I was able to finish in 2nd position and thus get 2nd overall ».
Stage 2 Gallery:
