Close, but not quite has unfortunately been the story of Finn Fisher-Black's season, and while he tried to rewrite the script on stage 4 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, it was second again.
The 24-year-old has both a fast finish and resilience on the climbs, so this hilly stage at the race, previously known as the Critérium du Dauphiné, suited him. It was speckled with category 2, 3, and 4 climbs before a flat final 30km and an uphill run to the finish, offering Fisher-Black an opportunity regardless of whether the day of racing was to be decided by the break.
"I was even keen for a bunch sprint today but I knew my chances were better from a break so that was the idea," Fisher-Black told Cycling Pro Net after the stage, where he had fought hard to make it into the move, which despite the intense efforts – "we were jumping for two hours" – took more than 60km to get established.
Once the break did actually get away on stage 4, the gap was kept tight, but the rider from New Zealand's persistence to get into the front group paid off. A position in the break delivered the chance to chase victory from among the leading group of nine, which the sprinters from the bunch missed out on, with the peloton crossing the line just four seconds back.
"We're just chopping full the whole way. We knew we couldn't mess about at all; there just wasn't enough time, which actually was good for me because I wanted the sprint. But, yeah, when it came to the sprint, it was pretty hard to make my way through the gaps there," said Fisher-Black, and while he ultimately got through, catching Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Step) was a final step that was out of reach.
"I just couldn't come around to win in the end, so that's all right but …," said the Kiwi, who once again had to swallow a near miss that meant his first WorldTour-level victory continued to evade him.
The rider in his sixth season in the WorldTour got the win tally really flowing in 2024, with three victories across the season in races away from the top-tier. As he moved from UAE Team Emirates to join Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, and into a far more WorldTour race-heavy schedule, the podiums kept flowing through 2025, though most often it was the third or second steps, with the New Zealand time trial title win his one victory of the year.
This season, he again scooped up the national time trial win and has now just delivered his third WorldTour runner-up result of 2026, the last being on stage 3 of the Tour of Romandie early in May.
"I'm trying not to think about how many times I've been second this year," said Fisher-Black. "It hurts a bit. But one day maybe, maybe..."
