In Alarcos, third place for Fernando Tercero and a sensational performance by the whole team
Memorial Manuel Sanroma
Stage 1: Almagro – Parque Arqueológico de Alarcos (122 km)
The season of the U23 team of the Fundación Contador officially started this Saturday with a frenetic first stage of the Memorial Sanroma in which the wind was again at work and the structure led by Rafa Díaz Justo deployed the strength of his team. In the final climb of the Parque Arqueológico de Alarcos, the great novelty of this edition (short, but with some 10% points), the winner was Andoni López de Abetxuko from Alava. The ‘box’ beat Josué Gómez (Drone Hopper GS Sport) and Fernando Tercero at the finish. Four riders of the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team finished in the top ten, a circumstance that lifted the Madrid-based team to the first place in the team classification.
Until that sloping finish, a day of high speed in which none of the breakaway attempts that took place until the halfway point of the race crystallized. It was the wind, in the last third of the race, which dynamited the peloton. The entire Contador Foundation team worked hard to take advantage of this circumstance. Initially, nine riders, including Fernando Tercero, Davide Piganzoli and Fran Muñoz, were in the lead, but with 20 kilometres to go another small group of thirteen riders, including the other four representatives of the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team, came from behind.
The group resulting from this regrouping would reach the base of the final climb. In the end, the Basque cyclist won with up to four EOLO-KOMETA riders in the top ten: Third, third; Serrano, fourth; Muñoz, seventh; and Piganzoli, eighth.
“It was a pity not to be able to finish off the good work we did all day, but that’s how this sport is. The team’s work was very good, especially in how attentive we were to the wind factor throughout the race”, said Fernando Tercero from Valdepeñas, La Mancha. And Javi Serrano from Madrid agrees: “The wind blew hard and it was a determining factor. We ran very well all day, always with numerical superiority. We lacked the finishing touch, but we worked very well. I think we have the team to do great things”.
Rafa Díaz Justo, sport director of the squad: “We had a great stage and the only thing missing was the icing on the cake of a win. We knew that the wind could play a key role in the selection of the race. Before the blow could come from a rival, we decided to take advantage of it. We started to push very hard and that work paid off immediately. It’s not easy to have all the riders at the forefront of the race, it shows that the guys have been very attentive to the circumstances of the race and that they are in a good moment. There are always doubts and unknowns in the first race of the season, but what we have seen has been particularly satisfying. Now comes a longer stage, also a bit tougher, and where the wind can also appear, and we will start with the aim of looking for the win”.
[📷 Álvaro García]
