With the mind set on Goulier Neige climb for this Friday
Ronde de l´Isard
Stage 1: Lorp Sentaraille-Eycheil (125,9 km)
An ascent to Eycheil, a little more than three and a half kilometres, welcomed this Thursday the arrival of the first stage of the Ronde de l´Isard. A first day in which the Briton Stephen Williams won the race, who arrived alone, slightly outstanding, with eight seconds of margin over his pursuers. Williams, therefore, is the first leader of the race. The Sevillian Juan Pedro López, twenty-second to 29 seconds, was the first classified of the Polartec-Kometa U23.
“It’s true that Juanpe hasn’t had his best day. The climb wasn’t going well either, because it was too short and wasn’t too steep. The very rhythm that existed before the start of the final climb has prevented him from arriving better placed and that placement has also weighed heavily on the result and the loss of time. Those seconds, however, are insignificant considering the stages ahead. Juan Pedro told us that today he had some strange sensations. The accumulated tiredness, the trip, the recent tours in Bidasoa or the GP Macario,… are things that weigh down. We are going to trust that that bad day has been today,” explains Rafael Díaz Justo, director.
A stage of great intensity and tension, where the riders rode at high speed and in which many crashes took place that, fortunately, did not have Polartec-Kometa riders involved. “All that has made it a very nervous day. The mission was to spend the day as calmly as possible and for the whole team to arrive as close as possible to the last climb to try and to help Juanpe”, he adds. Sergio García, from Cádiz, in 38th place and 56 seconds from the winner, was the next member of the team in the finish line.
This Friday the second stage will take place, 154.3 kilometres between Fonsorbes and the ski resort of Goulier Neige, at an altitude of 1,475 metres. A day with a high finish in a climb of almost ten kilometres with an average slope of close to 8%. A very serious test.
(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)
