A crash 400 meters from the end leaves Fernando Tercero without the option of podium in a Trofeo Piva of extreme weather
73º Trofeo Piva
Col San Martino – Col San Martino (179,2 km)
Formidable participation of the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team subsidiary in Italy. The U23 structure of the Contador Foundation stayed in the fight for the victory in the prestigious Trofeo Piva with two great performances of Davide Piganzoli and Fernando Tercero. The Italian, seventh, was the first man in blue at the finish. Tercero finished eighth, who crashed on the final, very narrow descent of San Virgilio when he was making his bid for third place in the race. He crashed 400 metres from the finish line when he was about to catch the runner-up. The final victory went to the Italian Martin Marcellusi.
This edition of the Trofeo Piva was a terrible day in terms of weather, especially in the early stages, with the presence of sleet and low temperatures. The organisers reduced the final kilometre of the race, 145 kilometres, but still demanding due to the chain of climbs to Combai and, in the last three laps, to the wall of San Virgilio. Apart from the various offensive initiatives that took place from the start, it was from kilometre 88 onwards that some of the protagonists of the race began to appear in the final part of the race.
A group of ten riders faced the last lap of the circuit and there rode both Piganzoli and Tercero. The group was completed by Marcellusi, De Carlo, Gómez Becerra, Carpene, Frigo, Hollyman, Engelhardt and De Pretto. With more than 35 seconds over the main peloton at that point, victory was in front. Within the last five kilometres, with San Virgilio on the horizon, Frigo and Marcellusi made their move. And the latter dropped his team-mate on the toughest ramps of the Col San Martino wall. With the summit very close to the finish line, he went for the win. Behind him, Tercero accelerated to storm the podium and to probe the chase for Marcellusi.
“It was a pity, but that’s how this sport is. I took too much risk when I was about to catch the second-placed rider, with about 400 metres to go. I went to the ground. I didn’t do anything to myself, just paint and bodywork, but you’re left with the anger of having been so close to the podium in such an important race. It would have been a great reward for the work of my team-mates all day long. I think we had a very nice race”, tells Tercero.
Dario Andriotto, U23 team director: “A great race from the guys. At the decisive moment we had two riders there, which shows that we worked very well beforehand and that they had good legs. The Trofeo Piva is not an easy race at all and the day was made even more difficult by the adverse weather, even though the kilometre reduction was very hard. Both Davide and Fernando have done a great race, they have moved very well and have shown that they are among the strongest riders in the category. A result that gives us a lot of confidence for the next races”.
[📷 Bolgan / AC Col San Martino (1, 3)]
