Month: July 2018

July 11, 2018

Tour Returns to Les Cuspides on Nasty Stage 5

The winding, hilly route of Stage 5 of the Tour de France saw a reduction in the field of riders, leaving an even number of 170 at the finish and throwing the race back into the cusps.

Julien Bernard of Trek-Segafredo and Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg of Dimension Data wound up as Les Cuspides of the general classification, sitting at 85th and 86th places respectively.

Greg Van Avermaet of BMC Racing Team remains in the yellow jersey, and Lawson Craddock of EF-Drapac continues as the Lanterne Rouge. Peter Sagan widened his lead for the green jersey with the stage win.

July 10, 2018

Naesen Becomes First Point d’Appui of 2018 Tour

Oliver Naesen of AG2R La Mondiale finished in 87th position on the general classification of Stage 4 of the 2018 Tour de France to gain the fulcrum for the first time in the race.

The 2017 Belgian National Champion in the road race, Naesen is racing in his third Tour de France. He finished 83 and 63 in 2016 and 2017, respectively. He had top 10 finishes in a dozen European road races, primarily classics.

Greg Van Avermaet of BMC Racing Team holds the yellow jersey, and Lawson Craddock EF-Drapac continues as the Lanterne Rouge, although he looks better each day.

Stage 2 and 3 of Tour de France continued in the cusps with an even number of riders finishing. Teammates Kristijan Durasek and Darwin Atapuma, both of UAE Team Emirates, finished 87th and 88th on Stage 2 to earn distinction as Les Cuspides.

The team time trials on Stage 3 reordered the peloton, and Guillaume Martin of Wanty-Groupe Gobert and Julien Simon of Cofidis, Solutions Credits wound up on the cusps of the fulcrum.

July 8, 2018

Wild Finish to Flat, First Stage of Tour de France

The 2018 Tour de France began with a long flat stage along the west coast of France, 176 riders aboard. They all finished the stage, so there was no Point d’Appui on the day. Les Cuspides for the day went to Ion Izagirre of Bahrain-Merida and Antwan Tolhoek and LottoNL-Jumbo, who finished 88th and 89th respectively.

The Colombian Fernando Gaviria of Quick-Step Floors won Stage 1 on the strength of a solid lead-out by teammates and a little help from a split in the peloton in the last 5 kilometres of the race that left a few sprint contenders out of place, although Gaviria looked quite strong at the intermediate sprints, too. American Lawson Craddock of EF-Drapac took a fall in the feed zone, injuring his left eyebrow and shoulder. He limped home as the Lanterne Rouge, nearly 8 minutes behind the leaders.

The late split in the peloton left several general-classification leaders from 30 seconds to more than a minute behind those who finished in the main sprint group with Vicenzo Nibali the primary beneficiary. The tour’s defending champion, Chris Froome, wound up a couple of places behind the fulcrum, more than 50 seconds behind Nibali.

It is the first time that Ion Izagirre and Antwan Tolhoek have finished on the cusps of the fulcrum, although Izagirre’s brother, Gorka Izagirre, finished on the cusps twice during the 2016 Tour.