"We agreed," the Swiss Konny Looser, champion of the Skoda Titan Desert of 2021 and 2022 and winner of the second stage of this new edition, now a new leader, confessed on Monday. “It was about mounting a tactical stage”, said the Swiss, who allied himself with Fran Herrero and Roberto Bou to take down Billaud and take the general.
One day after giving in to Herrero, the virtual leader after the first stage, Looser won the sprint on the second day (from Dades to Nkob, 106 km and 1,900 m of unevenness).
Billaud's options had multiplied by signing up for a bonus minute in the timed port of Saghro (8 km), a circumstance that had alerted the rest.
“Billaud is very strong, we have become very stupid so that he does not take the lead. In the end we take one path and he another. We had to get him out of the way and we said we would go full throttle”, confessed Herrero.
Among the women, Tesa Kortekaas signed up for the stage, but Vera Looser continues to lead, with a seven-minute margin.
