Another abandon on Stage 9 left the 2014 Vuelta a España with 194 riders and no fulcrum.
The two riders on the cusp of the fulcrum are Martijn Keizer of Belkin Pro Cycling and Filippo Pozzato of Lampre-Merida, who hold the 97th and 98th positions, respectively.
The mountainous stage led to a new leader in the general classification, Nairo Quintana. Matteo Pelucchi still holds the Lanterne Rouge.
A windy day caused a little furrowed brow among the leaders contending for winner of the 2014 Vuelta a España, and it shook things up in the middle too.
Nikolas Maes of Omega Pharma-Quick-Step finished 27th on the stage and rose four places in the overall standings to become the new Point d’Appui.
Matteo Pelucchi holds the Lanterne Rouge.
After six stages without a fulcrum, three abandons left 195 riders to come on Stage 7 of the 2014 Vuelta a España, Daniele Bennati of Tinkoff-Saxo is this year’s first Point d’Appui.
Bennati, an accomplished sprinter, has won six stages at the Vuelta, most recently in 2012, and won points classification in 2008. He also won two stages of the Tour de France back in 2007.
Bennati held the Point d’Appui after Stage 13 of this year’s Tour de France and shared les Cuspides after Stage 9 of the 2012 Tour de France.
Alejandro Valverde of Movistar Team remains the leader of the race although several riders are tucked in close behind.
Matteo Pelucchi of IAM Cycling holds onto the Lanterne Rouge, finishing 1 hour, 44 minutes and 6 seconds behind Valverde.
The three riders who abandoned due to injuries were Romain Sicard of Team Europcar, Aleksejs Saramotins of IAM Cycling and Ivan Santaromita of Orica GreenEdge.
On the stage, the. British racer David Millar of Garmin Sharp won the fulcrum.
Cuspides on the first six stages:
Stage 1 – Rinaldo Nocentini of AG2R La Mondiale and Lloyd Mondory of AG2R La Mondiale
Stage 2 – Elia Favilli of Lampre-Merida and David Arroyo Of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
Stage 3 – Paolo Longo Borghini of Cannondale and Manuel Quinziato BMC Racing Team
Stage 4 – Luis Leon Sanchez of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA and Bart De Clercq of Lotto Belisol
Stage 5 – Lawrence Warbasse of BMC Racing Team and Yauheni Hutarovich of AG2R La Mondiale
Stage 6 – Greg Henderson of Lotto Belisol and Paolo Longo Borghini of Cannondale
All 198 riders came home through Stage 2 of the 2014 Vuelta a España, leaving the race without a fulcrum. Elia Favilli of Lampre-Merida and David Arroyo of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA were on the cusp of the fulcrum after the stage, finishing 99th and 100th, respectively.
Stef Clement of Belkin Pro Cycling Team is the current Lanterne Rouge, finishing more than five and a half minutes behind race leader Alejandro Valverde of Movistar Team.
Ivan Basso
Ivan Basso of Cannondale finished 58th in the USA Pro Challenge to win the 2014 Point d’Appui. The race had been in les Cuspides after Stage 6, but three riders did not finish the final stage, Stage 7, putting the race back on fulcrum.
American Tejay van Garderen of BMC won the race for the second year. Aaron Perry of Team Novo Nordisk finished in 115th as the Lanterne Rouge.
Other finishers on the week of racing:
Due to the team time trials coming on the first stage of la Vuelta a España, the five riders at the center of the peloton after Stage 1 hail from one team: AG2R La Mondiale. Interestingly, finishing at the middle as individuals is not enough to make certain your team finishes in the middle among all the teams.
The AG2R team finished 15th among the 22 teams, three places back from the fulcrum. The difference occurs because the times of the team’s first five riders are used to determine placement. Teams ahead of AG2R had individual riders 1-5 ahead of AG2R, but riders 6-9 fell back behind AG2R.
All 198 riders came home, meaning no Point d’Appui could be awarded.
Rinaldo Nocentini of Italy and Lloyd Mondory of France were AG2R’s riders who finished on the cusp of the fulcrum in 99th and 100th positions, respectively.
Movistar won Team Time Trial opener, with Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas across the line first, followed closely by teammates Alejandro Valverde, Andrey Amador, Imanol Erviti Ollo, Javier Moreno Bazan, Nairo Quintana, Gorka Izaguirre Insausti, Adriano Malori, and José Herrada Lopez.
Team SKY and MTN-Qhubeka were the two teams finishing on the cusps of the team time trial. Dominic Klemme of IAM Cycling finished as the Lanterne Rouge.
Point d'Appui 