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.
Stage Races
Including the Grand Tours
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.
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.
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
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
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.
MacLean Edges Out Schwager for Giro Rosa Point d’Appui
Jessie MacLean
A minor shift in placement on the last day of the 2013 Giro Rosa put Jessie MacLean, who held the Point d’Appui after Stage 5, back in the fulcrum position to win the Maillot Gris.
MacLean, who rides for Orica-AIS, finished the first stage in 37th place, slipped all the way back to 103rd in the second stage and then slowly focused in on the Point d’Appui, coming home 71st, 74th, 68th, 69th and 68th again before capping the race with a strong finish in Stage 8, enough to bring her up to 64th place overall amid the 137 riders who finished.
MacLean rode in support of team leader Shara Gillow and finished 55 minutes and 23 seconds behind the Giro Rosa winner, Mara Abbott, and just under 1 hour and 39 minutes ahead of the Lanterne Rouge, Alessia Martini of Vaiano Fondriest.
Lauren Tamayo of the USA National Team had the time closest to the median time of the entire race.
Romy Kasper of Boels Dolmans Cycling took the Point d’Appui on today’s stage.
Mountains Take Toll; New Point d’Appui in Pyrenees
Adam Hansen of Lotto Belisol took over the GC Point d’Appui by the end of Stage 8 of the 2013 Tour de France as the tour headed into the Pyrenees for the first time.
The Point d’Appui after Stage 6, Vasil Kiryienka, slipped a place while riding in support of the new race leader, Chris Froome, on the first mountain stage of the day, leading Team Sky most of the way up the steep ramparts of the Col de Pailhères, the highest point on the Tour de France this year at more than 2,000 meters. His continued position one spot out of the fulcrum gives him plenty of time to regain the middle
Hansen has been working forward in the standards, and the first mountain stage favored his legs. He won Stage 7 of this year’s Giro d’Italia by breaking away early on a hilly, rugged day and staying away. Hansen finished Stage 8 of the Tour de France 44 minutes and 9 seconds behind Froome and 48 minutes and 9 seconds ahead of the Lanterne Rouge, Tom Veelers of Argos-Shimano.
On the stage, José Ivan Gutierrez of Movistar took the Point d’Appui.
On Eve of Time Trial, Schwager Grabs Fulcrum
Patricia Schwager
Patricia Schwager, the Swiss rider for Faren-Kuota, took over the GC Point d’Appui of the Giro Rosa, finishing at the middle of the pack after Stage 7. The final stage of the race, a time trial, will be Sunday.
She’s 54 minutes and 29 seconds behind the race leader, Mara Abbott, and an hour and 36 minutes ahead of the Lanterne Rouge, Alessia Martini of Vaiano Fondriest.
On the stage, Valentina Carretta of MCipollini Giordana won the Point d’Appui.
Winner of 2012 TdF Point d’Appui Returns to Middle
Vasil Kiryienka
Vasil Kiryienka of Sky Procycling, the winner of the grey jersey during the 2012 Tour de France, has finagled his way into the Point d’Appui on general classification after Stage 6.
Kiryienka finished in 109th place after Stage 5 and managed to move up in the standings to gain the middle spot. There were four abandons — two who did not start and two who did not finish the day — that made the climb in standings even more difficult for the Belorussian rider. Kiryienka is 14 minutes and 12 seconds behind the race leader, Daryl Impey, and 32 minutes and 6 seconds ahead of the Lanterne Rouge, Tom Veelers of Team Argos-Shimano. The rider with the median speed at the end of Stage 6 is David Lopez Garcia of Sky Procycling.
Jan Bakelants of RadioShack Leopard was on the fulcrum for the stage.
Point d'Appui 