July 15, 2016

Fans Atop Mont Ventoux Nearly Derail Tour

Anthony Delaplace

Alexey Lutsenko

The climb up Mont Ventoux got steeper and steeper while the crowd pressed tighter and tighter until it all came to a stop. For a few brief minutes. Richie Porte of BMC, Chris Froome of Sky and Bauke Mollema of Trek-Segafredo were caught behind a motorbike that had to stop during the last kilometer because of the crowds in the road. Porte hit the motorbike pretty hard, and Froome’s bike was damaged. He began running up the course and eventually was supplied a bicycle from the neutral car. It didn’t fit well and his team car caught him in the 500 meters to supply him a bike of his own.

All said, Froome and Porte would have lost time to the other GC contenders except that the race judges decided to award everyone time based on their time at the 1 kilometer mark, meaning Froome stays in yellow.

It is no consolation to the riders who finished the stage 30 seconds ahead of their rival but lost 19 or 20 seconds on the recalculated general classification.

None of this affected the middle of the race much. Marcus Burghardt, on the cusp after Stage 11, moved up a spot, and Anthony Delaplace of Fortuneo-Vital Concept joined Alexey Lutsenko of Astana Pro Team on the cusp of the fulcrum. Lutsenko was also on the cusp after Stage 11.

Two riders who contended for the Point d’Appui early in the race – Simon Gerrans and Wouter Poels – took falls together in a sharp turn. They managed to get back in the main group to support Froome before the climb.

The Lanterne Rouge remains Sam Bennett of Bora-Argon 18. Thomas De Gendt of Lotto Soudal won the stage, his first in the Tour de France.

Jurgen Van Den Broeck of Team Katusha didn’t start the stage and Angelo Tulik of Direct Energie wasn’t able to finish after taking a fall and injuring his wrist.

July 14, 2016

Winds Shift Cusps to Lutsenko, Burghardt

Marcus Burghardt

Alexey Lutsenko

Despite early crashes on narrow roads amid a crowded field, the 192 riders who started Stage 11, the middle stage of the Tour de France, managed to come home at the end of the day, leaving the tour in les Cuspides.

The crazy winds lashing the peloton blew Alexey Lutsenko of Astana Pro Team and Marcus Burghardt of BMC Racing Team into the middle of the general classification placement, Lutsenko at 96th pace and Burghardt at 97th. Both are new to the fulcrum.

The stage was won by Peter Sagan in an impressive run off the front end of the GC group. More impressively, Tour leader Chris Froome of Sky got onto Sagan’s wheel and stayed with him to gain another 6 seconds over the rest of the field. Sam Bennett remains the Lanterne Rouge.

July 13, 2016

Stage 10 Takes Tour Back into les Cuspides

Michael Valgren

Simon Gerrans

Even as his teammate was winning Stage 10 of the Tour de France, Simon Gerrans of Orica-Bike Exchange was reclaiming a spot at the middle of the pack.

Joining him on the cusp of the fulcrum was Michael Valgren of Tinkoff Team. Valgren was one of the first riders among the main peleton to cross the finish line in Revel, officially in 18th place on the stage. He gave a smiling, shy look back at race leader Chris Froome as if to ask whether he should be crossing the line ahead of the pack. No worries. All the time bonuses and points had been eaten up by the break, and the members of the peloton were all awarded the same time.

Two things conspired to put Gerrans and Valgren at the middle:

Peter Sagan of Tinkoff, who held the GC Point d’Appui after Stage 9, moved higher into the standings due to his luck at getting into the break and finishing second on the stage.
Sebastian Langeveld of Cannondale-Drapac had to abandon the race.

So, an even number of 192 riders finished the day and allowed Gerrans to move up a place in the standings and Valgren to fall back a place to 97th and 96th places respectively.

Gerrans might prove to be the best contender for this year’s Point d’Appui. He was on the cusp after Stage 7 as well, and he won the Point d’Appui in the 2013 Milan-San Remo Classic.

The winner of this Stage 10 proved to be Michael Matthews, whose teammates in the break helped him slip past Sagan during the cat-and-mouse finish. Sagan, however, recaptured the green jersey as a consolation. The overall leader of the tour continues to be Christopher Froome of Sky, and the Lanterne Rouge continues to be Sam Bennett of Bora-Argon 18.

July 10, 2016

Sagan Takes Point d’Appui after Stage 9

Peter Sagan

Peter Sagan of Tinkoff Team is just a few points behind the green-jersey leader, Mark Cavendish, and now holds the Maillot Gris of the Point d’Appui, having landed at the middle of the general classification at the end of Stage 9.

Sagan, of course, also held the yellow jersey for three stages after winning Stage 2. He fell back sharply in the standings after Stage 5, slipped as low as 113th place in Stage 7 and rose Sunday to the fulcrum position of the peloton.

Tom Dumoulin won the 184-kilometer stage in a cold downpour just after a hailstorm pounded the finish line. He got into an early break after several attacks and then chased away from the front end just before the beginning of the final climb.

Stage 9 had three Category 1 climbs and an HC climb to the finish.

Four riders did not finish the day. Alberto Contador, the team leader for Tinkoff, bailed out midway through the day. Mark Renshaw of Dimension Data and Matthieu Ladagnous and Cédric Pineau, both of FDJ, abandoned before the end of the day as well. The withdrawal by Renshaw, the lead-out for Mark Cavendish, might portend Cavendish’s withdrawal from the race if he were to fall behind on points for the green jersey.

Sam Bennett of Bora-Argon 18 continues as the Lanterne Rouge, 2 hours, 22 minutes and 11 seconds behind the tour leader, Christopher Froome of Sky.

July 9, 2016

Périchon Takes First Point d’Appui of 2016 Tour

The mountains of the Pyrenees turned the middle inside out, and the final descent, of course, secured the yellow jersey for Christopher Froome of Sky. Froome — instead of pausing at the top of Col de Peyresourde, final mountain climb of the day — kicked in the after-burners and flew down mountainside into the town Bagnères-de-Luchon.

The brilliance of Froome’s surprise move was the highlight of the day. The low point was the abandon of the race by Michael Morkov of Katusha, who crashed hard during Stage 1 but courageously continued in the race through Stage 7 and even made it over the Col du Tourmalet.

Pierre-Luc Périchon

Morkov’s abandon left 197 riders to come home and the first GC Point d’Appui of the 2016 Tour de France. Pierre-Luc Périchon of Fortuneo-Vital Concept finished at the middle of the peloton to claim the fulcrum position. Périchon finished the 2015 Tour de France on the cusps of the fulcrum and has bobbed in the middle third of this year’s peloton, finishing in the general classification as high as 64th after Stage 3 and as low as 116th after Stage 4. He took a fall while making an attack during the Paris-Nice race earlier this year and cracked his clavicle, but he appears to have recovered fully from it.

The riders on the cusp after Stage 7 were Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg of Dimension Data in 99th place and Simon Gerrans of Orica-BikeExchange in 100th place.

Sam Bennett of Bora-Argon 18, who went down in the Stage 1 crash with Morkov, takes over the Lanterne Rouge.

July 7, 2016

Tour de France Remains in les Cuspides

Grégory Rast

Gorka Izaguirre

Amazingly, all 198 riders who started the 2016 Tour de France are still in the race after Stage 6. A few are banged and bruised, but no one has decamped to recuperate for the Olympics.

With an even number of riders, the tour remains in les Cuspides. No Point d’Appui. No fulcrum.

But we do have two veterans who finished on the cusp: Gorka Izaguirre of Movistar Team and Grégory Rast of Trek-Segafredo. Izaguirre was on the cusp after Stage 2, and Rast slipped into the cusp on Stage 5, holding steady after Stage 6.

Mark Cavendish won the bunch sprint into Montauban. Greg Van Avermaet of BMC Racing Team remains in the yellow jersey, and Michael Morkov continues to hold the Lanterne Rouge.

July 7, 2016

Cheers to First, Last and Middle of Stage 5

Grégory Rast

Wouter Poels

Cheers to the riders on the front end of the tour and the tail end. Greg Van Avermaet of BMC got into the break, stole away from the break with two others and then ran away from in the final climbs to win Stage 5 of the 2016 Tour de France and don the Maillot Jaune.

On the other end of the train, Michael Morkov of Team Katusha, who crashed hard on Stage 1, struggled home on his own, five minutes adrift of the next nearest rider. Courage.

All 198 riders came home safely, so the race remains without a Point d’Appui. The mountains threw the order into the jackstraws. The two new riders on the cusp of the fulcrum are Wouter Poels of Team Sky at 99th and Grégory Rast of Trek-Segafredo. Poels held the GC Point d’Appui on Stages 12 and 13 of the 2015 Tour de France. It’s Rast’s first time to sit in the middle.

The climbs into the Massif Centrale broke the peloton into splinters, spreading them over a 33-minute timeframe. The rider with the time closest to the mean average time is Daniel Teklehaimanot of Dimension Data. He’s at 35 minutes and 12 seconds behind the leader, and Morkov is 1 hour, 10 minutes and 25 seconds behind Avermaet.

July 6, 2016

Fonseca, Impey Land at Cusp After Stage 4

Armindo Fonseca

Daryl Impey

The peloton revved up its engines and flew across the 237-kilometer course of Stage 4 on the Tour de France, starting in Saumur and finishing in Limoges on the strength of a tailwind. At the end of the day, though, the entire group of 198 riders came safely home again, thwarting the awarding of the Point d’Appui for another day.

On the cusp of the fulcrum were two new riders: Armindo Fonseca of Fortuneo-Vital Concept in 99th place and Daryl Impey of Orica-BikeExchange. Fonseca’s name might be familiar. He was the lone rider on the break for most of Stage 3.

The course was relatively flat but gaining elevation slightly during the first four-fifths of the stage before dropping into Limoges and then kicking up for 500 meters to another photo finish, this time between Marcel Kittel of Etixx-Quick-Step and Bryan Coquard of Direct Energie. Kittel won by mere nanometers.

Peter Sagan remained in the Maillot Jaune and Michael Morkov remained the Lanterne Rouge. Morkov fell another 5 minutes behind the rest of the riders and continues to struggle while trying to heal from his first-stage crash.

July 4, 2016

Tour de France Remains in les Cuspides for Third Day

Paolo Tiralongo

Cyril Lemoine

The peloton took its time on Stage 3 of the 2016 Tour de France, allowing a chance for injured riders to nurse wounds and come home safely. All 198 riders finished the day, although Michael Morkov, who took perhaps the worst of the crashes on Stage 1 dropped into the Lanterne Rouge.

Les Cuspides shifted to two new riders, although one is no stranger to the Point d’Appui. The Italian rider Paolo Tiralongo of Astana Pro Team moved into the 99th spot. Tiralongo won the Point d’Appui in the Tour de France a decade ago. Since then, he joined the Astana team in 2010 and has a string of first-place finishes on stages, three of them in various editions of the Giro d’Italia.

Joining Tiralongo on the cusp of the fulcrum is French rider Cyril Lemoine of Cofidis.

The 223-kilometer course between Granville and Angers saw only one bit of excitement during the day, when Thomas Voekler made the cross from the peloton to the lone rider on the break, Armindo Fonseca of Fortuneo-Vital Concept. That’s how placid the pace was on Stage 3.

The finish of the stage, however, offered a little anxiety while Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel waited to see who won the photo finish. It was Cavendish by a wheel rim.

The two riders on the cusp after Stage 2 — Gorka Izagirre and Vasil Kiryienka — remained near the middle. Izagirre climbed slightly in the standings while Kiryienka fell back 11 spots, leaving les Cuspides open for Tiralongo and Lemoine.

July 3, 2016

Kiryienka on Cusp of Fulcrum After TDF Stage 2

Vasil Kiryienka

All 198 riders came home on a wet and winding Stage 2 of the 2016 Tour de France. Gorka Izagirre of Movistar Team and Vasil Kiryienka of Team Sky moved into 99th and 100th places, respectively, for general classification and hold les Cuspides.

Kiryienka is a perennial favorite for the Point d’Appui, riding out front in support of Sky team leader Chris Froome for most of the day and then falling back through the standings after his work is done. Along with winning the Point d’Appui in the 2012 Tour de France, Kiryienka finished two stages of the 2014 Tour on les Cuspides and in 2013 finished the Vuelta a España on les Cuspides. He was on pace to do well in the 2013 edition of le Tour before missing a time cutoff.

Kiryienka would be the odds-on favorite to win this year’s Point d’Appuit barring similar disaster, but Markel Irizar of Trek-Segafredo is only five spots off the middle and Paolo Trialongo of Astana Pro is only six away.

Gorka Izagirre and his brother, Jon, ride in support of GC contender Nairo Quintana. During the 2015 Tour de France, their team placed first in the team competition. Jon held the Point d’Appui after Stage 2 of the 2013 Paris-Nice race. Gorka finished 5th overall in this year’s Tour of Dubai, so he has some fire power that might lead him higher in this year’s standings.

Peter Sagan of Tinkoff won Stage 2 and also took on the mantle of the yellow jersey, the first time he has been race leader and the first time since 2013 that he won a stage of the Tour de France. Sam Bennett of Bora-Argon 18, injured during a fall in Stage 1, dropped into the Lanterne Rouge but survived the time cut-off.

The rolling terrain of the 183-kilometer stage between the start at Saint-Lô and strongly uphill finish at Cherbourg played well to the puncheurs, among them Sagan.

The two riders on les Cuspides after Stage 1 — Simon Geschk of Team Giant-Alpecin and Emanuel Buchmann of Bora-Argon 18 — both finished well on Stage 2 and moved up in the standings.

Point d'Appui

Month: July 2016