July 25, 2021

Surprise Finish by Amateur for Gold in Women’s Olympic Race; No Fulcrum

*Anna Kisenhofer, who started the break near the beginning of the Olympic women’s road race, pushes up a short hill toward a Gold Medal finish.*

Omer Shapiro riding in the Olympic women's road race — *Omer Shapiro of Israel while in the break eventually dropped back to 24th position after being caught by the peloton in the last kilometers of the Olympic women’s road race.*

The Netherlands did better in the race for the Halfnium Medal than for the Gold in the women’s Olympic road race, with the Dutch rider Demi Vollering claiming half of Les Cuspides at 25th place among 48 riders who finished. Omer Shapira of Israel at 24th claimed the front half of the cusps.

The amazing Gold Medal finish of Anna Kiesenhofer of Austria, an amateur cyclist who is a professor of mathematics at the University of Lausanne, was the story of the race. Kiesenhofer was the first to make a break at the beginning of the race and was joined in the move by four more riders, including Shapira.

Kiesenhofer broke with her fellow escapists on the climb over the Kagosaka Pass and never looked back, putting her strength as a time trial racer to the test.

*The mathematician Anna Kiesenhofer going for gold in the final kilometers of the Olympic women’s road race.*

Behind her, the peloton and particularly the Dutch riders favored in the race made tactical mistakes that delayed and ultimately doomed any chance of making the catch, finishing more than a minute after Kiesenhofer.

The last time an Austrian won a medal in Olympic bicycle racing was 1896.

Soraya Paladin of Italy came home the Lanterne Rouge.

July 24, 2021

Olympic Men’s Race Ends With No Fulcrum; Iberians Claim Middle

Riders from Iberian peninsula claimed the fulcrum of the 2021 Olympic men’s road race. Olivera Nelson of Portugal and Alejandro Valverde of Spain as Les Cuspides finished 41st and 42nd among the 82 finishers in a race that ended up without a Point d’Appui.

Nelson and Valverde were part of a group of 19 riders who came home together a little over 10 minutes adrift of the gold medalist, Richard Carapaz of Ecuador.

More than 40 riders did not finish the race, many of them abandoning after a large crash with 150 kilometers still remaining.

The Lanterne Rouge went to Hugo Houle of Canada.

August 6, 2016

Juul-Jensen Wins Men’s Hafnium Medal at Rio

Christopher Juul-Jensen

Christopher Juul-Jensen of Denmark is the Point d’Appui of the the 31st Olympiad in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, winning the Hafnium Medal during the bicycle road race.

The women’s road race finished with 50 riders and so no Hafnium Medal could be awarded.

The 241 kilometer men’s route was the toughest in Olympic history. Eighty-one riders did not finish, leaving 63 to come home safely. Vincenzo Nibali and Richie Porte both crashed out on the technical descents of the final circuit. Jensen finished at 32nd place, 9 minutes and 38 seconds behind the winner. He also posted the median time of the finishers.

Juul-Jensen rode for Tinkoff-Saxo from 2011 to 2015, switching to Orica and riding in the 2016 Tour de France, finishing 119th. He won the Danish National Time Trial Championships in 2015.

Greg Van Avermaet of Belgium won the race, and Alessandro De Marchi of Italy proved to be the Lanterne Rouge.

February 9, 2014

America’s Bjornsen Nab’s Fulcrum of Women’s Olympic Skiathlon

Sadie Bjornsen

Sadie Bjornsen, an accounting major at the Alaska Pacific University, found the median placement for the Winter Olympics women’s Skiathlon to win the Halfnium Medal for finished at the Point d’Appui.

The top American finisher in the 15-kilometer cross-country skiing race, Bjornsen placed 31st among all 61 competitors, finishing 2 minutes, 36 seconds and 1/10th of a second behind the winner, Marit Bjoergen of Norway. The Lanterne Rouge was won by Kelime Cetinkaya of Turkey.

Kateryna Grygorenko of the Ukraine had the time closest to the median time.

February 9, 2014

Dolidovich Takes Olympic Point d’Appui in Men’s Skiathlon

Sergei Dolidovich

In a photo-finish for the Point d’Appui in the Winter Olympic men’s Skiathlon, Sergei Dolidovich of Belarus successfully fended off a challenge from Noah Hoffman of the United States to win the middle. Dolidovich wins the Halfnium Medal as a result.

The field of competitors totaled 68 at the start of the race, but Jun-Ho Hwang of South Korea was eliminated after being lapped, leaving 67 to come home safely. Dolidovich finished the 30-kilometer course in 34th place and posted a time of 1 hour, 11 minutes, 28 seconds and 1/100th of a second, about 3 minutes and 12 seconds behind the leader.

First place in the event went to Dario Cologna of Switzerland, and the Lanterne Rouge was taken by Vytautus Strolia of Lithuania. Chris Freeman of the United States posted a time of 1 hour, 14 minutes, 34 seconds and 6/100ths of a second, the time closest to the median time of the race.

July 29, 2012

Italy’s Guderzo Takes Women’s Olympic Point d’Appui

Tatiana Guderzo competing in the London 2012 Women’s Olympic Time Trial.
Photo by David Iliff (License: CC-BY-SA 3.0.)

Tatiana Guderzo, representing Italy, finished on the fulcrum of the 2012 Women’s Olympic Road Race to win the Point d’Appui and take home the Hafnium Medal.

Guderzo finished 32 seconds behind the gold medal winner, Marianne Vos of the Netherlands, and 1 minute and 25 seconds ahead of the final rider to be given a time, Emma Pooley of Great Britain, who finished 1 minute and 57 seconds adrift. Nineteen riders finished the outside the time limit. Another seven riders did not finish the race.

Guderzo has ridden to some acclaim in her native Italy, winning the Italian National Time Trial Championships in 2005 and 2008 as well as finishing second in the Italian National Road Race Championships in 2008. In 2009, she also was the International Cycling Union’s world champion for road race.

UPDATE: She finished 21st of 24 riders in the Women’s 2012 Olympic Time Trial.

July 28, 2012

Veikkanen Wins Men’s Olympic Point d’Appui

Jussi Veikkanen in his national championship jersey
Photo by YellowMonkey/Binguyen

Jussi Veikkanen of Finland took home the Hafnium Medal at the 2012 Olympiad in London, after finishing as the Point d’Appui in the men’s road race. Veikkanen finished with a large group of riders who came in 40 seconds adrift of the winner, Alexandr Vinokurov of Kazakhstan.

Seventeen riders did not finish the race, leaving 127 to come home. Veikkanen finished at 64th, some 8 minutes and 39 seconds ahead of the Lanterne Rouge, Soufiane Haddi of Morocco. Fabian Cancellara, who crashed with about 10 kilometers left in the race, limped home to finish with the time nearest the median time of the race.

Veikkanen was the National Road Race Champion of Finland in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010. During the 2012 season, he has ridden for FDJ-BigMat. Outside of Finland, he has done little to distinguish his career.