July 10, 2014

La Pluie, pas les Pavés, Doom Froome

Christopher Froome, winner of the 2013 Tour de France, abandoned the 2014 Tour on Wednesday after crashes amid the rains of northern France prior to reaching the first sector of cobblestones. His loss left 193 riders to come home, and provided the tour with its first fulcrum.

Tom Veelers of Team Giant-Shimano finished 97th to claim the first Point d’Appui of the 2014 Tour de France. He started the in 168th place, but Stage 5 threw the tour into chaos. In the general classification, Veelers is 24 minutes and 41 seconds behind race leader Vincenzo Nibali. The Lanterne Rouge is still in the hands of Ariel Maximiliano Richeze of Lampre-Merida, who 1 hour, 2 minutes and 49 seconds adrift.

Markel Irizar, winner of the 2011 Tour Point d’Appui, is in 102nd, just five spots out of the fulcrum. Vasili Kiriyenka, winner of the 2012 Point d’Appui, fell 50 places due in part to his quick drop off the back to support Sky teammate Chris Froome after Froome’s first crash and in part as a result of Kiriyenka’s own crash in a slick roundabout.

The number of crashes Wednesday was legion, and that was before les pavés, the seven cobblestone sectors. Two sections of cobblestones were eliminated from the race due to the rain and “bad” conditions, as if there were any good conditions on the route across Flanders and finishing in Arenberg. Well, Stage 5 winner Lars Boom of Belkin Pro Cycling might say the last kilometer was pretty swell.

Greg Van Avermaet of BMC took the Point d’Appui on the stage.

Tom Veelers

July 9, 2014

Tour Enters France, Remains in les Cuspides

The scenery seen by the seekers of tour glory shifted from the linseed fields of Great Britain to the historic battlegrounds surrounding Armentières as Stage 4 of the 2014 Tour de France resumed in the host country.

Outcomes for the day, however, seemed like a replay of Stage 3. Vincenzo Nibali still holds the yellow jersey; Marcel Kittel won the stage again, though with more difficulty; a GC contender hit the deck hard; Ariel Maximiliano Richeze still holds the Lanterne Rouge; and two more riders abandoned.

Andy Schleck, the leader of Trek Factory Racing, bowed out before the start of Stage 4 after taking a hard fall on Stage 3, and Gregory Henderson of Lotto-Belisol abandoned during Stage 4 after a late crash that also brought down two of his teammates and spoiled lead-out hopes for Andre Greipel in the sprint finish.

The two abandons left 194 riders to come home on the day, leaving the race in les Cuspides for the fourth straight day. The two riders on the cusp are John Gadret of Movistar Team at 97th and Peter Stetina of BMC Racing Team at 98th. Gradet also held the leading cusp after Stage 2.

Last year’s winner of the Tour de France, Chris Froome took a hard fall early in the stage, skinning his hip and rattling his wrist bones. As a side note, Vasili Kiryienka, who won the Point d’Appui in the 2012 Tour de France and the 2012 Tour de Romandie, showed why he reliably finishes in the middle of the pack, serving Froome as a domestique par excellence, dropping back to the Team Sky car to retrieve a brace for Froome’s wrist. Froome regained the peloton easily and seemed to be in good shape to continue tomorrow, although Stage 5 will rattle both bones and brains.

Luis Mate of Cofidis, who was on the cusp after Stage 1, got into the two-man break with Thomas Voeckler of Europcar during today’s stage, and they stayed off the front together until Mate had a flat. Voeckler was caught by the peloton with about 15 kilometers to go. In the 2013 tour, Voeckler, a perennial French favorite, had the time closest to the median time among all finishers.

For tomorrow, viva les cobbles!

John GADRET © Presse Sports/B.Papon

July 8, 2014

Blasé Stage 3 Leaves Tour Without Fulcrum

After a day of raucous hills on Stage 2, Monday’s sonorous Stage 3 of the Tour de France finished up in London after 98 miles of yawn and just a dash of rain to dampen spirits further. The 196 riders who started the day finished the day, meaning we have a third day without a Point d’Appui. Benjamin King of Garmin-Sharp and Imanol Erviti Ollo of Movistar Team finished on les Cuspides in 98th and 99th places respectively.

Two riders broke away early in the race as it left Cambridge, and the peloton were happy to let them dangle off the front until the last six kilometers of the race, when the sprinters jumped to the fore, and Kittel won his second stage.

Poor Simon Gerrans hit the deck again today, going down with Andy Schleck and Ted King after a yawning spectator stepped off the bank and into the stream. All three were soon back on their bikes and finished without further incident.

Vincenzo Nibali and Ariel Maximiliano Richeze remained in the Maillot Jaune and Lanterne Rouge positions, respectively. Peter Sagan still holds the sprinter’s Green Jersey, but Bryan Coquard’s little nip at the heels during the intermediary sprint left us heartened.

July 6, 2014

Le Tour Remains in les Cuspides after Stage 2

In general classification, John Gadret of Movistar Team finished 98th and Kristijan Koren of Cannondale finished 99th to hold down the cusps of the fulcrum after Stage 2 of the 2014 Tour de France.
The withdrawal of Mark Cavendish before race resumed set the stage for an odd number of riders to come home, but Sacha Modolo of Lampre-Merida also abandoned due to a case of flu, leaving the field with 196 finishers on the day.
Lampre-Merida is having its share of difficulties: Ariel Maximiliano Richeze finished 22 minutes behind the leaders on the day and is now the Lanterne Rouge, some 36 minutes and 31 seconds behind the Maillot Jaune of Vincenzo Nibali.
Nibali, leader of Astana, made a daring charge at the end of ragged stage through the steep hills of Yorkshire, holding on at the end against one of the few sprinters to survive the sawtooth course, Peter Sagan of Cannondale.

July 5, 2014

Mate, Roy on Cusp After Stage 1 of Tour de France

All 198 riders came home, albeit a couple of them battered during the run-up to the finish, during Stage 1 of the 2014 Tour de France. As a result the first day ended without a Point d’Appui. Luis Mate of Cofidis and Jérémy Roy of FDJ took 99th and 100th places, respectively to place in Les Cuspides.

Marcel Kittel won the sprint decisively to gain both the stage and the yellow jersey. Hometown favorite Mark Cavendish hit the deck hard during the sprint along with Simon Gerrans. Both limped home, and Cavendish particularly looked as though the crash might put him off the rest of the tour.

The winner of the 2013 Tour de France Point d’Appui, Manuel Quinziato of BMC, rode for the team in the Giro d’Italia but – like Bradley Wiggins and Nairo Quintana – is not back at the Tour de France to defend his title.

However, the winners of the 2011 and 2012 Tour de France Point d’Appui are back.

Markel Irizar of Trek Factory Racing and winner of the 2011 Point d’Appui finished 75th during Stage 1.
Vasili Kiryienka of Team Sky, finished in 104th position, within striking distance of this year’s fulcrum.

Kiryienka was on track to contest for the 2013 Point d’Appui before being dropped from the tour after finishing outside the time limit on Stage 9 last year.

The Lanterne Rouge after Stage 1 is Alessandro Petacchi of Omega Pharma-Quick Step, who finished 14 minutes back of the leaders.

Stage 1, which started in Leeds, Great Britain, and finished at Harrogate, also took a break for members of the tour to meet members of the royal peloton, Prince William, Princess Kate, and Prince Harry.

June 3, 2014

No Point d’Appui for 2014 Giro

An even 156 riders came home in the 2014 edition of the Giro d’Italia, and so no Point d’Appui could be awarded.
Leonardo Fabio Duque of Colombia and Eros Capecchi of Movistar shared les Cuspides, finishing in 78th and 79th place, respectively.

October 28, 2013

The 2013 Tour de France Placement Vortex

The 2013 Tour de France placement of riders on a stage-by-stage basis.

The 2013 Placement Vortex shows the placement of each rider in relation to the grey Point d’Appui winner, Manuel Quinziato. The finishing colors simply help differentiate each block of 10 riders, from first place at the top to 169th place at the bottom, except that the middle tan color is nine riders, including the Point d’Appui.

The heavier black lines denote riders who eventually abandoned the race, eventually leaving only 169 riders to finish, hence the slow narrowing of the field from left to right. Track the yellow line of Christopher Froome at top, the red lantern line of Svein Tuft at bottom, or the plain gray line of Manuel Quinziato, who finished at the center of the peloton.

The first stage on Corsica finished with the entire peloton coming to the stage finish together and thus receiving the same time. Their individual placement, however, was happenstance for the most part, save the sprinters who wanted the stage win. On the more rugged Stage 2, many of the sprinters fell back and the GC contenders moved up, creating a chaotic leap in many of the placements.

The Team Time Trial of Stage 4 catapulted a few riders into higher placement while others fell as a result of their team’s ability. Then, except for the effect of crashes, placement began to consolidate until the entry of the peloton into the Pyrenees, when the chart was thrown into the “jackstraws.” As might be expected, the climbers moved up in placement while the sprinters fell.

Again, the graph shows that placement turned to relatively static strata during the flat stages through Brittany as well as the route south across the Loire River Valley and toward the Alps. An exception is that heavy cross winds splintered the peloton on Stage 13 and sent the graphic back into the “jackstraws.”

Although the mid-Alps individual time trial changed placement much, the rest of the Alps wreaked havoc on placement with some riders gaining more than 40 spots.

Download a PDF of the 2013 Tour de France Placement Vortex courtesy of Point d’Appui.

September 16, 2013

Wyss, Kiryienka Finish on Cuspides of 2013 Vuelta

The 2013 Vuelta a España finished without a Point d’Appui, an even 144 riders coming home to Madrid, but two strong contenders for the Point d’Appui in earlier races this season finished on the cusp of the fulcrum.

Danilo Wyss of BMC and Vasil Kiryienka of Sky Procycling shared the dubious honors of finishing as Les Cuspides at 72nd and 73rd place. Wyss held the fulcrum in the 2013 Giro d’Italia near the end of the race, but an abandon put him on the cusp at the finish. Kiryienka, who won the Point d’Appui in the 2012 Tour de France and the 2012 Tour de Romandie, was on track to win the 2013 Tour de France Point d’Appui as well, but finished outside the time limit on Stage 9 and was dropped from the race.

Overall, the 2013 Vuelta a España resulted in a nominal number of stage finishes — only six of 21 — with a general classification Point d’Appui.

Wyss finished 2 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds behind the winner of the Vuelta, Christopher Horner of RadioShack Leopard, and 2 hours and 10 minutes ahead of the Lanterne Rouge, Massimo Graziato of Lampre-Merida. The rider with the median time on the race was Matthew Busche of RadioShack Leopard.

The state-by-stage general classification results for the 2013 Vuelta a España:

Stage 1 – Maciej Paterski of Cannondale
Stage 2 – No fulcrum
Stage 3 – No fulcrum
Stage 4 – No fulcrum
Stage 5 – Alexandre Geniez of FDJ
Stage 6 – Kevin De Weert of Omega Pharma-Quick Step
Stage 7 – Fabian Cancellara of RadioShack Leopard
Stage 8 – No fulcrum
Stage 9 – No fulcrum
Stage 10 – No fulcrum
Stage 11 – Andrey Zeits of Astana
Stage 12 – Alex Howes of Garmin-Sharp
Stage 13 – No fulcrum
Stage 14 – No fulcrum
Stage 15 – No fulcrum
Stage 16 – No fulcrum
Stage 17 – No fulcrum
Stage 18 – No fulcrum
Stage 19 – No fulcrum
Stage 20 – No fulcrum
Stage 21 – No fulcrum

July 21, 2013

Quinziato Wins Point d’Appui in 100th Edition of Tour de France

Manuel Quinziato, winner of the Point d’Appui for the 2013 Tour de France.

Quite sadly, an abandon by Lieuwe Westra of Vacansoleil-DCM on the last stage of the 100th edition of the Tour France, on its way into Paris, left the tour with 169 finishers. We would have been much happier to see Westra finish the tour and not to proclaim a Point d’Appui for the race.

Alas, we do have a 2013 Point d’Appui, but it is well deserved. Manuel Quinziato of BMC Racing finished 2 hours, 39 minutes and 34 seconds behind the winner, Christopher Froome of Sky, to win the 2013 Tour de France maillot gris.

Quinziato started the race with a good first stage, finishing nine places ahead of the middle. On Stage 2, he slipped back to 106th place, but over the next ten stages, he slowly worked his way forward in the peloton to get to the fulcrum position on Stage 12. After a strong finish in Stage 13, he moved up eight places, peaking at 73rd place in Stage 16 when he got into a break of 26 riders that survived to the finish in Gap. Quinziato, though, limited his damages for the Point d’Appui by finishing 26th out of the 26-member break.

By Stage 19, he had dropped back to the middle, finishing on Les Cuspides on 19 and 20. The abandon by Westra and no significant changes on the final day of romps on the Champs allowed Quinziato to finish on the fulcrum and win the Point d’Appui.

Quinziato finished 1 hour, 48 minutes and 21 seconds ahead of the Lanterne Rouge, Svein Tuft of Orica-GreenEdge.

The rider with the time closest to the median for the 21-day race proved to be Thomas Voeckler, the French rider for Team Europcar.

The stage-by-stage general classification results for Point d’Appui:

Stage 1 – No fulcrum.
Stage 2 – No fulcrum. Markel Irizar of RadioShack Leopard, winner of the Point d’Appui in the 2011 Tour de France, was on Les Cuspides.
Stage 3 – No fulcrum.
Stage 4 – Pavel Brutt of Katusha
Stage 5 – Sergey Lagutin of Vacansoleil-DCM
Stage 6 – Vasil Kiryienka of Sky Procycling. Kiryienka was the winner of the Point d’Appui in the 2012 Tour de France.
Stage 7 – No fulcrum.
Stage 8 – Adam Hansen of Lotto Belisol
Stage 9 – No fulcrum. Vasil Kiryienka was eliminated from the race after coming home too slow on the stage.
Stage 10 – No fulcrum.
Stage 11 – No fulcrum.
Stage 12 – No fulcrum.
Stage 13 – Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas of Movistar Team.
Stage 14 – Simon Clarke of Orica-GreenEdge
Stage 15 – Julien El Fares of Sojasun
Stage 16 – Alberto Losada Alguacil of Katusha
Stage 17 – Alberto Losada Alguacil of Katusha
Stage 18 – Matteo Tosatto of Team Saxo-Tinkoff
Stage 19 – No fulcrum.
Stage 20 – No fulcrum.
Stage 21 – Manuel Quinziato of BMC Racing

July 7, 2013

2012 Winner, Kiryienka, Dropped for Time

Bad news to report. Vasil Kiryienka, the winner of the 2012 Point d’Appui in the Tour de France and one of the Sky team members riding in support of Chris Froome, has been dropped from the race after finishing beyond the time limit on Stage 9. The peloton was scattered across the Pyrenees after Garmin-Sharp threw caution to the wind and dropped the anvil on the pedals.

Kiryienka, who had looked like a strong contender for his second Point d’Appui after finishing at the fulcrum at the end of this year’s Stage 6, must have spent his legs on Saturday during the first mountain stage. He wobbled home Sunday and couldn’t get under the time requirement.

Along with Kiryienka, there were four other abandons — one who did not start and three who did not finish the day. As a result, 182 riders are still in the race, and there is no Point d’Appui at the moment. Les Cuspides are shared by Sergey Lagutin of Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling and Daniele Bennati of Saxo-Tinkoff. Lagutin held the Point d’Appui after Stage 5, but several other riders remain close to the center, including Stage 8’s fulcrum, Adam Hansen.

With a rest day coming on Monday and a relatively level run on Stage 10, perhaps no more of the favorites will be dropped from the race.

Tom Veelers of Argos-Shimano remains the Lanterne Rouge.

Point d'Appui

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