ENYAQ iV takes on the ŠKODA Titan Desert in the Sahara

An electric car in the sand dunes – how would it cope? Just fine, as the ŠKODA ENYAQ iV proved in its role as an escort vehicle for the ŠKODA Titan Desert Morocco mountain bike race.

3. 6. 2022 Lifestyle Sports Cycling

ŠKODA ENYAQ iV leading the peloton

ŠKODA ENYAQ iV

ŠKODA KODIAQ 4×4

ŠKODA ENYAQ iV

ŠKODA KAROQ

ŠKODA ENYAQ iV

How do you recharge in the desert?

The fleet of the organiser’s cars consisted of three KODIAQ SUVs, three KAROQs and one representative each of the KAMIQ and ENYAQ iV models. They were brought from Spain to the race on lorries that also carried all the race equipment. In Europe, the electric cars were charged by chargers at the hotels where the participants and organisers stayed overnight before the start of the competition. In the desert, the car was charged using the facilities at the camps where the crews and organisers spent the night between stages.

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“The ENYAQ iV was used by the organisers as the car leading in the peloton – its quiet drive and zero emissions are ideal for a bike race like the ŠKODA Titan Desert Morocco. The car proved to be very reliable and the drive was beautifully smooth and quiet. The low centre of gravity makes the car supremely stable on long desert roads. And thanks to its powerful torque, the ENYAQ iV also coped admirably with the tricky sandy surface,” says Joan Massalle Carreras, ŠKODA Sponsoring and Event Manager in Spain.

Never give up!

That was the motto of thirty-three-year-old Swiss rider Konny Looser, the winner of last year’s race. He started the final stage of this year’s race only three seconds behind Spain’s Francisco Herrera. Just three kilometres from the finish of the 76-kilometre route from Erg Chebbi to the finish in Maadid, Looser decided to throw the dice: he abandoned the marked route and took what he hoped was a shortcut. And it paid off. He gained fifteen seconds on Herrera and won the overall classification by the smallest margin in history – twelve seconds!

Spanish rider Anna Ramírez and Swiss rider Konny Looser, winners of the ŠKODA Titan Desert Morocco 2022

The women’s race was won by a cyclist who apparently doesn’t know the meaning of the word lose. Forty-one year old Spaniard Anna Ramírez has won all four ŠKODA Titan Desert races she’s taken part in, with this year’s triumph added to her victories in 2015, 2017 and 2019. Her winning margin was impressive: almost six minutes.

For more results from this year’s ŠKODA Titan Desert Morocco race visit WeLoveCycling.