Michael Albisini

On the fulcrum stage of the 2017 Tour de France, a new leader in the Point d’Appui emerged by the end of the day: Michael Albasini of the Orica-Scott team. Albasini was on the cusps of the fulcrum after Stage 10.

Albasini has been racing professionally since 2003, winning the Tour of Austria in 2009 and the Tour of Britain the next year. He won a stage of the 2014 Vuelta a España and was also part of the GreenEdge team in 2013 that won the team time trial in that year’s Tour de France. More recently, he won the sprinter’s points classifications in the 2016 Tour de Romandie and the Tour de Suisse. This is Albasini’s ninth Tour de France, and his highest finish was 50th in 2014. It’s his first time on the fulcrum.

On the stage, Marcel Kittell of the Quick-Step Floors team once again crossed the finish line first. Reto Hollenstein of the Katusha-Alpecin team finished at the fulcrum position on the stage.

Christopher Froome continues to lead the race, with an 18 second lead over Fabio Aru and 51 seconds ahead of Romain Bardet. “He’s like a frog in a sock,” Robbie McEwen’s description of Chris Froome’s riding style. We have a new Lanterne Rouge. Luke Rowe, the wingman for Froome, slipped back into the last position, displacing Olivier Le Gac of the FDJ team who had held the Lanterne Rouge since Stage 3.

Dario Cataldo of the Astana Pro Team abandoned after a crash in the feed zone in which he came down on one hand and injured his wrist. Astana leader Jakob Fuglsang also came down but finished the stage, finding out afterward that he had a couple of small fractures.