Fernando Tercero’s impressive performance at Ronde de l’Isard: second at the finish in Plateau-de-Beille
44º Ronde de l´Isard
Stage 4: Fonsorbes – Plateau de Beille (149,2 km)
The rider from La Mancha, Fernando Tercero, came close to the stage victory this Saturday in the fourth stage of the Ronde de l’Isard after a sensational climb to the winter sports centre of Plateau-de-Beille. A climb of great entity, 16 kilometres of ascent with a very constant average gradient close to 8%. The rider from Valdepeñas started it with more than a minute lost on the head of the race due to a fall that was involved kilometres before, but Tercero showed that he is in a great shape and in a climb without complexes he ended up reaching the height of Thomas Gloag and Gijs Leemreize in the last five kilometres.
#RDLI2021. Sensacional ascensión de Fernando Tercero a Plateau-de-Beille. El ciclista manchego, que se había caído kilómetros antes, recuperó mucho tiempo, llegó a la cabeza de carrera y acabó segundo hoy en @RondeIsard. #EOLOKOMETACyclingTeam #EquipoSub23 #FormandoCiclistas pic.twitter.com/MtgfN5atp6
— FundContadorTeam (@FundContaTeam) October 2, 2021
The day started with multiple breakaway attempts, in one of which David Martín from Seville took part. The Andalusian rider was involved in a movement of twelve riders that ended up arriving, with fewer riders, at the final climb. Tercero arrived there with more than a minute lost after being involved in a crash at the kilometre 130 of the stage; a crash in which the leader until today also went to the ground. With more than a minute lost on the race leader at that moment, Tercero started a comeback in which he released the leader and in which he found the impulse of Javi Serrano, Álex Martín and David Martín.
Tercero caught up with the race leader and a trio began to attack each other again and again. The rider from Castilla-La Mancha finally finished second, 27 seconds behind the winner Thoms Gloag. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen anything like this,” says director Rafa Díaz Justo. “Fernando was very good. It was really impressive to see him climb, a real spectacle. We are in a race of an enormous level, with the best of the best of the U23 scene, and he was able to close the minute he was losing at the bottom”.
The EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team U23 rider climbs 18 positions in the overall and is third in the provisional general classification 54 seconds behind Thomas Gloag and two seconds behind the Dutch rider Gijs Leemreize in second place. “From the bottom I focused on setting my pace and keeping it as long as I could. The guys in front of me also gave me a big hand to close the gaps. Once I was on my own, I went flat out all the way to the top. I was able to catch them and once I got there I tried to surprise them by pulling away. Gloag caught my wheel well and finished me off. But I finished the day very happy”, he explains.
This Sunday the Ronde de l’Isard faces its fifth and last stage with a new mountainous proposal in which the chain of climbs to Lers, Agnes and Latrape.
[📷 Corentin Richard / DirectVelo]
