Fraile shines in Ronde de l'Isard stage two

Omar Fraile showed his form is strong by claiming fifth in today's second stage of the Ronde de l'Isard. The 21-year-old now occupies the same placing overall.

Day two of the French sub-23 stage-race was taken out by Sergei Chernetskiy - and in some style. The Russian soloed to the stage win, finishing 1:26 ahead of a select group of five, and thus took a commanding lead in the overall standings. This select second group, of which Fraile was a part, consisted of Pierre-Henri Lecuisiner, who took second, his compatriot Maxime Le Lavandier (third), a certain Alexey Rybalkin and  Louis Varvaeke. This group finished up eight seconds ahead of a 20-man group containing Orbea's Igor Merino.

Fraile, who'll ride for Euskaltel in 2013 and 2014, thus continued his strong riding that recently netted him a solid 28th overall in the Vuelta a Asturias, and the former Subida a Gorla-winner has now put his name into the ring of contenders for a high overall placing. With the two remaining days taking in quite the amount of climbs, not least the Col du Portet d'Aspet tomorrow, the strong Orbea climber will look to make his mark.

Stage two results (full results here):

• (1, Sergei Chernetskiy (Russia), 3:49:56)
• 5, Omar Fraile, 1:26
• 20, Igor Merino, 1:34
• 30, Carlos Barbero, 2:38
• 39, Illart Zuazubiskar, 2:39
• 55, Haritz Orbe, 2:44

Photo: www.omarfraile.com