Karin Hendrickson and Linwood Fiedler took over les Cuspides of the 2013 Iditarod on the fourth day of mushing from Anchorage to Nome. With 64 sleds still on the course, there was again no Point d’Appui.
Hendrickson and Fiedler have reached into the Takotna checkpoint.
Mattia Cattaneo of Lampre-Merida and Kanstantsin Siutsou of Sky Procycling share les Cuspides of the fulcrum at the end of Stage 3 of the Paris-Nice spring classic. José Ivan Gutierrez of Movistar did not start the third stage, bringing the number of surviving riders in the race to an even 178.
Cattaneo is 3 minutes 14 seconds behind the latest leader of the race, the American Andrew Talansky of Garmin Sharp, and more than 17 minutes ahead of the new Lanterne Rouge, Yann Huguet of Team Argos-Shimano. Huguet, as you will recall, had the median time after the Prologue.
On the stage, Ruben Plaza of Movistar and Gustav Larsson of IAM Cycling finished on the cusp. And our Stage 1 Point d’Appui, Jerome Cousin, brought up the rear of Stage 3.
The Stage 2 Point d’Appui, Jon Izagirre has moved up in the standings to 41st, and his brother Gorka contested for the stage win.
By about 3 p.m. Anchorage time, all the Iditarod racers still in the race, save that of the tail of the dog – David Sawatsky – had come through the checkpoint at Rohn, Alaska, and 28 mushers had made it to the Nicolai checkpoint on the third day of the race from Anchorage to Nome. The section between Rohn and Nicolai, especially the first 20 miles, is rough and rugged, and it’s a fairly long leg of the race. It’s the day that makes or breaks dogsled teams or their drivers.
Only two racers have withdrawn from the race so far.
The abandon of Scott Jansen, the second withdrawal in the race, left an even number of racers and no Point d’Appui on the day. The racers on the cusp of the fulcrum, Les Cuspides, as the French would put it, are Curt Perano and Aaron Peck. Three cheers and a nap for all, including the dogs, who make it to Nicolai.
Jon Izagirre, leading a break in the 2012 Giro d’Italia on the stage he eventually won. Photo by Richard Schofield, via Wikimedia Commons
Jon Izagirre of Euskaltel-Euskadi is the new Point d’Appui after Stage 2 of the Paris-Nice spring classic. Izagirre placed fourth overall in the recent Tour Down Under and won a stage of the Giro last year. That says something about the top-flight quality of riders who still have excellent times at Paris-Nice but who are relegated to the middle of the pack by the relative ease of the race so far.
Izagirre finished 24 seconds adrift the leader of the race, Elia Viviani of Cannondale, and more than 17 minutes ahead of the Lanterne Rouge, Alexander Kristoff of Team Katusha. Andrea Palini of Lampre-Merida holds the median time for the general classification.
Jerome Cousin, who held the fulcrum after Stage 1, drifted back more than 20 places but might still have a stab at the middle on Stage 3 as the route heads into the Monts du Livradois and hits its first category climbs, a couple of Category 3s and a Category 2 climb – the Côte de Mauvagnat – near the end of the day.
On the stage, Francis De Greef of Lotto Belisol finished at the center of the peloton. Four riders abandoned, including the leader after Stage 1, Nacer Bouhanni.
Brent Sass
Teams are spread among three different checkpoints as the second day of the Iditarod mushing is figured. Brent Sass, owner and founder of Wild and Free Mushing, is at the Point d’Appui of the race. Half the dog sleds were ahead of him and half were behind when he checked in at Finger Lake.
Sass majored in geography at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks and started racing and training huskies about seven years ago. He began racing in 2006 and was Rooke of the Year for the 2012 Iditarod. Ahead of him, Martin Buser still leads the race, and James Volek is bringing up the dog’s tail.
After three abandons following crashes, we are left with our first Point d’Appui of the 2013 Paris-Nice Classic. Jerome Cousin of Team Europcar slipped into the fulcrum position of the race, right behind teammate Vincent Jerome. That’s right, two Jeromes. If Jerome Cousin married Vincent Jerome, he would be…
Cousin started the day in 131st place and finished up in 91st, not by dent of power but rather by avoiding the pavement that ate up many riders. Cousin is 15 seconds behind the new leader of the race, Nacer Bouhanni of FDJ, and slightly more than 17 minutes ahead of Alexander Kristoff, the Katusha rider who took a nasty fall in the latter 50 kilometers of the race but managed to limp in to Nemours for the finish.
For the stage, Maxim Iglinskiy of Astana Pro Team took the maillot gris.
Rudy Demoski
Sixty-seven-year-old Rudy Demoski Sr., who raced his first Iditarod in 1974, finished at the middle of the pack Sunday as the mushers arrived at the Yentna checkpoint on the first day of the 2013 Iditarod. His placement, however, belies his success. The mushers were sent off every two minutes, and Demoski has already passed several other mushers to get to the fulcrum.
Demoski, a carpenter, hasn’t run Iditarod for 27 years, but picked up a sponsor this year and decided he wasn’t getting any younger. In the 1974 Iditarod, Demoski finished fourth so don’t expect him to stay on the fulcrum long.
Martin Buser, who led out the race, has retained his lead so far, although several behind him are maintaining stronger paces so far. The final sled had not checked in at Yentna as of this post, so the tail of the dog is unknown yet.
A pair of Cofidis riders, Jerome Coppel and Rein Taaramae, have taken the Cuspides on the Prologue of the Paris-Nice stage race, the unofficial start of the 2013 racing season.
It took less than five minutes for even the slowest rider, Andreas Klier of Garmin Sharp, to finish the 2.9 kilometer Prologue in the Paris suburb of Houilles. All 184 riders came home safely, so there is no Point d’Appui to be awarded on the Prologue. Coppel and Taaramae were both 13 seconds adrift.
Damien Gaudin of Europcar won the Prologue, narrowly edging out Sylvain Chavanel of Omega Pharma-Quickstep and Lieuwe Westra of Vacansoleil-DMC. The Prologue win was unexpected for the Europcar Team, or at least anyone following Europcar. Chris Fontecchio over at Podiumcafe picked Europcar as the team whose ambition at Paris-Nice might be to “get noticed on camera at some point.” Gaudin has a string of first place finishes in the French national track championships, but this his first top finish in a stage race, albeit a Prologue that on paper looks more like a track race than a stage race.
A Frenchman, Yann Huguet of Team Argos-Shimano, had the median time of the day with right at 25 seconds.
Monday’s stage, 195 kilometers from Saint-Germain-en-Laye to Nemours, will be a romp for the sprinters. With only three seconds separating the middle 20 percent of the racers, anyone might slip into the fulcrum position by the end of the day.
With 13 teams, eight riders per team and only 2.9 kilometers of prologue, the odds seem highly in favor of all 184 riders coming home later today, leaving us without a fulcrum after the first leg of the 2013 Paris-Nice.
The start and finish in Houilles, just outside of Paris, portends unpredictability though, so who knows what might happen by the end of today’s ride.
There are several riders expected to race who have proved their middle in earlier seasons, such as Michael Morkov and Vasili Kiryienka.
Point d'Appui 