As seen in The Motorbike Mag: The 1000 Dunes returns with a long-awaited edition, which will begin this Saturday in Granada and will end there a week later, after crossing Morocco and arriving in Merzouga. Discover all the information and news of this new edition of the raid directed by Miguel Puertas.

After a mandatory break due to the pandemic, the 1000 Dunes returns to the fray stronger than ever. Tomorrow Granada will host the start of a new edition of a raid that continues to grow and settle on the calendar as one of the benchmark events in this discipline.

One more year, the famous ex-dakarian Miguel Puertas will be at the forefront of the adventure, but he will also do it very well supported by figures of the stature of Iván Cervantes , who will form, together with Puertas, the coaching team that will provide help, knowledge and advice to the participants. It is worth mentioning the confluence of amateur pilots who are still learning from a discipline as exciting and difficult as raids, with the presence in the race of fully established pilots such as Joan Pedrero, Sara García, Javi Vega or Iván Cervantes himself, who will combine his presence as a coach with his participation at the controls of the Triumph Tiger 900 Rally Pro, with which he already won the Baja Aragón a few months ago.

In total nine nationalities will be represented, with the figures already mentioned above and also the Italian Tiziano Internó forming part of the cast of registered.

Due to this confluence between amateur and professional riders, the 1000 Dunas has a correct division by categories for the 66 participants enrolled in this adventure: Classic, Trail, Hard Trail, Adventure, Pro and Elite will be the different categories, created with the objective to adapt to all levels of both piloting and navigation. Precisely, navigation is a point to take into account in this race, named by Miguel Puertas as “the safest raid in the world” for that reason, since it rewards navigation more than speed. “You do not compete against the clock, but against yourself”, they point out from the organization of the event.

The 1000 Dunas is more focused precisely on those amateur pilots, who seek to learn from the discipline of raids and know their own limits, within an environment of safety and camaraderie, this last point with an itinerant camp that accompanies the race during the different stages.

The great novelties of this edition will be the Trail and Hard Trail categories , which will allow motorcycles such as the Triumph Tiger 900 Rally Pro in the hands of Iván Cervantes or the Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 with Joan Pedrero to be seen on stage.

The raid will consist of seven stages. It will start this Saturday, October 22, in an unbeatable setting like Granada, where the 1000 Dunes will also be the icing on the cake seven days later. The route will cover seven stages, crossing Morocco and reaching Merzouga .

After the mandatory checks and briefing, which will take place in Granada, the caravan will head to Morocco to cover a total of between 1,500 km and 2,500 km with an average of between 150 and 400 km per stage, depending on the category. And it is that the duration and difficulty of the stages will depend on each of the six categories in which they participate.

Triumph and Racered, fundamental supports

The new edition of the 1000 Dunas will have two key pieces for its development, such as Triumph and Racered . In the case of the British firm, those of Hinckley already glimpse its powerful landing in off-road and his presence in the 1000 Dunes is one more brushstroke on its expansion in this world.

Triumph continues to develop its range of enduro and motocross motorcycles , a project in which Iván Cervantes is playing one of the most important parts of the gear, and the brand is also now betting on the 1000 Dunas to support this adventure that wins year after year packing in the off-road calendar, more specifically between the raids.

Among other things, Triumph will participate together with Iván Cervantes and will also have the presence of more amateur, professional or semi-professional riders, such as the British Vanessa Ruck and Aled Price, who will also ride a strictly stock Tiger 900 Rally Pro. In addition, Josu Orozko will participate with a Tiger 800 CX after having been the winner of the scholarships that Triumph launched for the 1000 Dunas. As if this were not enough, Iván Cervantes will have a double function: participant and coach, forming a team in this section with Miguel Puertas.

For its part, Racered will put its specialized clothing catalog to the test and will also support this race as co-main sponsor.

For the rest of the Motorbike Mag article see here.

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