Exhibition in the queen stage by Fernando Tercero, now third overall, Álex Martín and Arnau Gilabert

49ª Vuelta a Salamanca
Stage 2: Ledrada – La Alberca (167,1 km)

Fernando Tercero from Castilla-La Mancha jumped this Monday to the third place of the overall in the Vuelta a Salamanca after finishing fourth, 1’40” behind the winner, in a very hard stage in which the ascent to the Portillo de Las Batuecas near the finish marked the final selection. Tercero’s performance is even more interesting because of the sensational time recovery he made midway through the stage, closing a gap of almost three minutes between the peloton in which the leader until today was riding and an intermediate group in which Arnau Gilabert was riding.

The intermediate group in which Tercero arrived, a dozen riders, was formed in the area of the first two second climbs; a phase of the race in which the Catalan Álex Martín was riding at the head of the race, in the company of other riders. The rider from Barcelona, more than 100 kilometres in the breakaway, showed his great qualities as a long-distance runner by managing the final part of the day, despite the great expenditure of energy beforehand, and finishing seventh, 3’06 behind the winner.

In La Alberca, the Brazilian Vinicius Rangel, recent winner of the Vuelta a Cantabria, won with a little more than a minute over his teammate Luis Daniel Zea; a victory that took him to the provisional leadership of a general classification in which, apart from the third place of Tercero, Álex Martín is still in seventh place and the Catalan Arnau Gilabert, tenth on Monday, is in eleventh position. A great collective performance in a very demanding stage that comes to sweeten the disappointment for the withdrawal of Davide Piganzoli with a fracture in his right collarbone: three men in the top ten place the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team as leaders of the team classification.