Record 570 riders make Mojácar home for Europe’s only Titan Desert race

A record 570 mountain bikers spent four days racing over the Sierra Cabrera, through the Tabernas desert and up to Velefique, and for the first time it was Mojácar they set off from. It’s a role that brought the town a busy week in October, just when most of the coast starts winding down for winter.

Mojácar swapped beach crowds for 570 mountain bikers

Riders from more than 20 countries descended on Mojácar from Thursday October 1 to Sunday October 4 for the seventh Škoda Titan Desert Almería, with the town acting as the race’s main base for the first time.

That meant riders, support crews and organisers staying in Mojácar for the week, with three of the four stages starting or finishing there. With 570 on the start line, including 60 women, it was also the biggest field the race has had in its seven years.

The Titan Desert (a multi-day mountain bike race best known for its long-running edition in Morocco) is part of the Titan World Series, and the Almería race is the only one held in Europe. The town hall didn’t hide its pride either, saying after the final day that it had watched the race “in all its splendour from the heights of our municipality” and that Mojácar “is and will remain home to the best sport”. 

A tougher, all-new route through the Sierra Cabrera and up Velefique

The route was new for 2026, covering around 310 kilometres with more than 6,600 metres of climbing. Organisers described it as far more of a proper mountain biker’s course than previous years, with constant climbs and descents and fewer sandy sections.

Day one was a 73-kilometre loop from Marina de la Torre through the Sierra Cabrera, finishing by the sea. Day two took riders from Mojácar past Bédar, through an old railway tunnel on a vía verde (a disused railway line turned into a cycle path) and past a Buddhist temple in the hills before reaching the Circuito de Almería at Tabernas, with a short, heavy downpour turning parts of it into mud.

Saturday’s 100-kilometre stage was the toughest of the lot, with a timed climb up to Velefique of almost 1,000 metres. Sunday’s 60-kilometre final stage then brought everyone back to Mojácar.

A former Tour de France stage winner made it two in a row

Luis León Sánchez, from Murcia, retained the title he won in 2025. The former road professional attacked on the first climb of the opening day and rode alone to win by more than three minutes, joking afterwards that he’s “not Pogačar” and that anything could still happen. As it turned out, nobody got that time back, and he finished in 11 hours, 50 minutes and 56 seconds, exactly three minutes ahead of Miguel Muñoz from Córdoba, with Portugal’s Bruno Miguel Rosa just seven seconds further back.

The women’s race was even more one-sided. Natalia Fischer won all four stages to defend her 2025 title and finished more than an hour ahead of the Netherlands’ Tessa Kortekaas, the most successful rider in the series’ history, with María Esther Maqueda third.

However, the moment many will remember came on the final day into Mojácar, when 24-year-old Youssef Issmaili won the stage, the first Titan World Series stage win ever for a Moroccan rider. He finished fifth overall and said his next goal is to win in Morocco.

Why the October race matters to the Almería coast

The race is backed by the Diputación de Almería (the provincial council), whose president José Antonio García Alcaina called it one of the province’s sports tourism highlights, helping bring in visitors from abroad and outside the summer months. More than one in five riders this year came from outside Spain.

Mojácar’s mayor, Francisco García, who welcomed riders to a town of around 8,000 people at the race’s presentation in June, has pitched it as part of a push for active tourism all year round. So for hotels and bars that would usually be thinking that the season is done by October, a town full of riders and support crews is exactly the kind of visitor the council has been chasing, alongside events including the Meeting of the Clans scooter gathering.

The organisers have already confirmed the race will be back in 2027, though they haven’t yet said whether Mojácar will keep its role as base. With the last few editions selling out, anyone tempted to take part, or just to watch from the old town, should keep an eye on the Titan World Series website for when registration opens.