But not yet. First the Gazelles will navigate under the eye of the 'old mountain', Djebel Bani.

Here it's full speed ahead; nothing will stop the Gazelles on this first part of the leg. Well, there is some sand here... In fact, there's a lot of it.

Despite the sand, today's major challenge will be the Draa. They will have to cross it. And crossing it means a good ten kilometres of dunes tangled with tamarisk and an ersatz of other varied vegetation. And that's only part of the challenge, because they will have to go down into the wadi and climb back out onto the other bank. Normally the wadi is dry following years of insufficient rainfall. But a few days ago, heavy rains fell in Morocco … so is the wadi still dry?

Once again, this leg will be no easy affair. No, the final results won't be decided here, but some top contenders are certain to have their hopes dashed on reaching the bivouac this evening.