Fernando Tercero: “This year I’m looking forward to it and I hope to adapt well to the new category”
The manchego Fernando Tercero is more than one of the six reinforcements of the Kometa Cycling Team sub23; it is also a new example of the Alberto Contador Foundation’s integral commitment to the promotion of cycling and the formation of new values. The rider from Valdepeñas continues to study and study Agricultural Engineering. In sports, he joined the youth team last season after having been elected in the 2017 edition of the Campus de Selección de La Mafia se sienta a la Mesa de Zaragoza. In an outstanding season for the junior squad, with great performances by all its members, Tercero has been another of the outstanding along with Carlos Rodriguez, Raul Garcia or Javi Serrano.
Tercero debuted with the Spanish national team, integrated the national team that competed in the Volta a la Provincia de Valencia sub23 and was also in Yorkshire. “The experience of the national team was quite good, it was incredible to be able to shoot in next year’s category and the truth is that we were quite surprised both at how we shot there and what we were able to do in the test”.
Despite these important calls and his good start in both the Victor Cabedo and the Copa de España, in which he won his second appointment, in La Canonja, and became the provisional leader, it was not an easy season for him. A crash against a car in the Cantabrian Memorial Chele Campos de Cacicedo caused a fracture in the jaw that required surgery and led to the loss of five teeth. However, he rehired and achieved some brilliance in the International Valromey Tour l´Ain and a Tour of Besaya in which he finished fourth. “The balance of 2019 is really quite good despite having the bad luck of the fall. But I managed to recover quite well and regain the level I had previously,” said Tercero.
Tercero joined this sport at the age of ten, when he joined a cycling club in his village. Not that he had direct antecedents within the family, but in the summer afternoons the broadcasts of the Tour de France and the Tour of Spain (by the time he was born the Spanish round had already jumped to September a few years ago) were obligatory appointment before the television. Valdepeñas is not a prodigal zone in high summits, but the small Tercero did not take long to stand out in the climbs. “I love the mountain,” he says. “I think I’m a good climber and it’s in the mountains where I’m best and most outstanding. In Valdepeñas the truth is that there isn’t much climbing, so when it’s time to practice it I go to Sierra Morena”.
Looking ahead to 2020, in what will be his first year in the U23 category, the cyclist from Ciudad Real has very clear ideas: “I look forward to this year. The same at the beginning is more complicated, especially for running with people four or five years older, for the mileage … I hope to adapt well. But above all, I’m really looking forward to it. This year I followed the category quite a bit and especially I followed the development of the several-day races, which is where I think I can do better”.
(automatic translation)
