It ain't over till the fat lady sings!
With a start at the Mummy in the direction of Merzouga, riders got a predominantly flat and 63 km
short ride to conclude the stage race. It could be a "Champs Elysées" ride with time for photos and
champagne, but the truth was that the race was open from the start.
The leaders in the GC and winners of four of the five stages wanted to shine and make a prestige
race in which they could once again show their supremacy of the past week. They had secretly
explored the first kilometres in the morning and from the first slightly upgoing part after 3 km, Jelle
Hanseeuw and Frederik Decaesteker made an attack and finished 10 minutes ahead of all the rest.
The last two kilometers ran through the tough and high sand dunes of Ergchebbi, which were
extremely loose and heavy due to the drought of the past weeks. Most of those dunes had to be
taken on foot by the many participants, but the salvation was near and everyone could enjoy a
refreshment on the terrace or in the swimming pool of the hotel right next to the finish.
Pascal De Kort and Johnny Goetschalckx scored their best result of the week with a second place
with which they once again confirmed their superiority in the grandmaster category.
The final winners in the Masters category Michael Ossieur and Stefaan Vaes finished the race
together with teammate Arne Van den Wijngaert more than 11 minutes behind the winners. Michiel
Van Aelbroeck and Bart Seynaeve finally finished in fourth place at 14 minutes to take second
overall.
This brings a beautiful week with two tough opening stages, a super nice ride through the Sahro
mountains and two flat but mentally tough stages through the sand plains and dunes towards the
arrival point in Merzouga to an end. In total 169 riders of the 175 participants who started on
Monday in Ouarzazate finished the stage race which was much more than the previous editions.
