August 26, 2012

USA Pro Cycling Race Ends in Les Cuspides

Following the final stage of the U.S.A. Pro Cycling Race, a 15.3 kilometer time trial, the order of the racers was shook but all 96 came home, leaving the race without a Point d’Appui. Peter Velits of Omega Pharma-Quickstep and Serghei Tvetcov of Team Exergy finished on the cusp for the general classification at the end of the seven-day race through the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

Velits was 27 minutes and 47 seconds behind the overall winner, Christian Vande Velde of Garmin-Sharp, and more than an hour ahead of the Lanterne Rouge, Sergey Klimov of RusVelo.

Stage 7, itself, finished with Roman Kreuziger of Astana and Michael Friedman of Team Optum splitting the middle of the pack.

Only two stages of the race ended with an odd number of racers, and therefore a Point d’Appui:

Stage 1: Andrew Bajadali of Team Optum
Stage 5: Benjamin King of RadioShack-Nissan

August 25, 2012

King Sits Atop the USA Pro Cycling’s Fulcrum

American Benjamin King of RadioShack-Nissan has gained the overall Point d’Appui in the USA Pro Cycling Tour at the end of Stage 5. King is 23 minutes and 31 seconds behind race leader Tejay van Garderen of BMC and 36 minutes and 53 seconds ahead of the Lanterne Rouge, Morgan Schmitt of Team Exergy.

With only two days to go in the Colorado race, King has probably the best shot of holding onto the fulcrum, but George Hincapie, riding his last professional bicycle race is only six spots off the middle. If he continues working hard to keep van Garderen in the lead, he might just slip back enough in the closing moments of the final two days to grab the Point d’Appui.

The Point d’Appui for Stage 5 was another American, Andrew Bajadali of Team Optum. Bajadali finished with the same time on the stage as winner Tyler Farrar and another 67 riders.

August 25, 2012

Vuelta Remains in Les Cuspides Since Stage 4

When a sailing ship hits the duldroms and the winds cease, the crew grows restless and starts doing ridiculous things like swabbing the deck. The Vuelta a España has gone three stages without a Point d’Appui, an even number of riders coming home each day. It got so bad that after Stage 7, the Vuelta’s website showed 194 riders finishing the stage but 196 still in contention for the general classification.

Suffice to say we don’t know how that works except that either there are two tandem bicycles out there or the Vuelta has entered its own period of blah.

Les Cuspides for the last few stages have been:

Stage 5 – Denys Kostyuk of Lampre-ISD and Zdenek Stybar of Omega Pharma-Quickstep.
Stage 6 – Bruno Pires of Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank and Assan Bazayev of Astana Pro Team.
Stage 7 – Pablo Lastras Garcia of Movistar Team and Rafael Valls Ferri of Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team.

Whether we find a new fulcrum on the first really tough mountain finish is yet to be seen. Maybe it will shake up the scorekeepers enough to get the number of riders correct.

August 22, 2012

Katusha Riders Gain the Cusp after Stage 4 of the Vuelta

After the abandonment by David Boucher, the field of the Vuelta was left with 196 riders and no Point d’Appui. After the fourth stage, Pavel Brutt of Katusha and Denys Kostyuk of Lampre, finished as Les Cuspides in the general classification. They finished more than 15 minutes behind the leader, Joaquim Rodriguez, also of Katusha.

Brutt was joined by another Katusha rider, Gatis Smukulis, as Les Cuspides for the stage.

A crash with about 30 kilometers to go threw the race into disorder. Philippe Gilbert, who held the Point d’Appui after Stage 3, fell nearly 40 places on the day. Unsurprisingly though, Markel Irizar, who won the Point d’Appui in the 2011 Tour de France as well as one stage in the 2011 Vuelta, has managed to stay within six places of the fulcrum.

The new Lanterne Rouge of the Vuelta is Martijn Maaskant of Garmin-Sharp. He’s more than 39 minutes behind the leader.

August 21, 2012

Gilbert Edges Pauriol Out for Point d’Appui

Philippe Gilbert of BMC can add another feather to his cap after finishing on the fulcrum during Stage 3 of the Vuelta a España to gain the general classification Point d’Appui. Gilbert was the Belgian road race and time trial champion in 2011 and won quite a few races, and wore the yellow jersey in the 2011 Tour de France after winning the first stage. This year, the honors have been much more modest, and so it should come as little surprise that he has landed in the middle.

He finished six minutes and three seconds after the race leader, Alejandro Valverde of Movistar, and 21 minutes and 21 seconds ahead of David Boucher, who despite gaining good time overall was still in overall last place after Stage 3.

The Point d’Appui for the stage went to Kevin De Weert, another Belgian riding for Omega Pharma-Quickstep.

Rémi Pauriol, who held the Point d’Appui after Stage 2, gained 27 spots on the pack. Markel Irizar, whom we had pegged as a potential winner of the maillot gris by the end of the Vuelta, moved only a few spots up, despite getting into the eight-man break.

August 19, 2012

Pauriol Grabs Overall Point d’Appui

Rémi Pauriol, photo by jmreymond

After an abandon prior to the start of Stage 2, we were left with 197 riders to come home. Rémi Pauriol of FDJ-Bigmat held tight to the middle and finished as the Vuelta a España’s first Point d’Appui in the general classification.

Pauriol shared les Cuspides with teammate David Boucher after Stage 1, but Boucher fell off the bus during Stage 2 and wound up in last position on the day, filling in for Enrico Gasparotto of Astana, Stage 1’s last-place finisher. Gasparotto crashed hard in Stage 1 during the team time trial, suffering a triple broken collar. He pedaled to the finish in last place but came home outside the time limit and was unable to start Sunday.

Pauriol finished 57 seconds behind race leader Jonathan Castroviejo and 12 minutes 56 seconds ahead of Boucher.

Tomasz Marczynski of Vacansoleil-DCM finished on the fulcrum for the stage.

Here’s hoping the racers cool their heels a bit and we avoid more race-ending crashes.

August 18, 2012

Astana, AG2R on Cusp after Vuelta Team Trial

The Vuelta a España began Saturday with a team time trial. With 22 teams finishing and 198 riders coming home, there was no Point d’Appui on the day. The teams Astana and AG2R la Mondiale finished 10th and 11th, respectively, to settle in as les Cuspides on the opening day.

David Boucher

Rémi Pauriol

Two members of FDJ-Bigmat — Rémi Pauriol and David Boucher — finished as the individual les Cuspides, 57 seconds behind leader Jonathan Castroviejo of Movistar. They finished more than 8 minutes ahead of Enrico Gasperotto of Astana, who finished as the Lanterne Rouge on the first day.

Using a team trial to start the Vuelta makes assessment of the fulcrum more difficult. Each team’s finish is a reflection of its team members’ ability to hang together and serve the weakest among themselves, the antithesis of most stage races, where the weakest protect the team leader for as long and as well as they can. Predicting the fulcrum for Sunday’s road stage is anything if not mediocre.

However, if we must guess, we would go with Team Radioshack’s Markel Irizar, who won the Point d’Appui in the 2011 Tour de France as well as one stage in the 2011 Vuelta, was only three places off the fulcrum. Radioshack appears to be setting him up for another run at the overall Point d’Appui in the Vuelta this year.

CyclingNews quotes Irizar thusly about the likely ease but possible difficulty of Stage 2: “I know this area well and it can be windy around. This should be one of the easiest stages but it depends where the finish is exactly. Often races finish on a short, 800m hill in Viana. It could complicate things for the sprinters.”

The defending champion of the Point d’Appui for the 2011 Vuelta, Lloyd Mondory of AG2R la Mondiale, finished in 130th place.

July 23, 2012

Kiryienka Wins Point d’Appui in 2012 Tour de France

Vasili Kiryienka of Team Movistar has won the maillot gris of the 2012 Tour de France, edging out Yaroslav Popovych of Radio Shack and Andrey Kashechkin of Astana to win the overall Point d’Appui.

Vasili Kiryienka

Kiryienka is the 52nd competitor to hold the Point d’Appui in the 109-year history of the tour. He took hold of the fulcrum position during the individual time trial Saturday and held onto it through the ride into Paris and the circuit of the Champs-Élysées. Kiryienka, though riding thoroughly average in this tour, finished second on Stage 10 of the 2010 Tour de France and placed sixth overall at this year’s Critérium du Dauphiné. He has also had stage wins in the 2008 and 2011 Giro d’Italia. He was the Belarus Time Trial Champion in 2002, 2005 and 2006.

He finished 2:22:02 behind the winner of the tour, Bradley Wiggins, and 1:35:34 ahead of the last finisher, Jimmy Engoulvent.

The rider closest to the median time was Christian Vande Velde, who finished at 1:58:38.

During the 2012 Tour de France, the lead for the Point d’Appui changed six times, and nine stages ended without a rider at the center. The following show the general classification for le Point d’Appui during the 2012 Tour de France.

Prologue – 198 riders come home. No fulcrum.
Stage One – No fulcrum.
Stage Two – No fulcrum.
Stage Three – 196 riders finish on the day. No fulcrum
Stage Four – Aliaksandr Kuchynski of team Katusha is the first point d’appui of the 2012 Tour de France, coming home 7 minutes and 22 seconds adrift. The Lanterne Rouge, Brice Feillu, finishes 35 minutes and 23 seconds behind the leader.
Stage Five – 194 riders come home. No fulcrum
Stage Six – No fulcrum.
Stage Seven – Sébastien Hinault of AG2R La Mondiale strikes the midpoint on Stage 7, finishing 21 minutes and 12 seconds behind tour leader Bradley Wiggins. Only 181 riders finish on the day.
Stage Eight – No fulcrum.
Stage Nine – No fulcrum.
Stage Ten – Cyril Gautier climbs, literally, into the Point d’Appui during Stage 10.
Stage Eleven – Michael Morkov of Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, after finishing on the cusp of Stage 9, comes home as the fourth rider to hold the Point d’Appui during the 2012 Tour de France. Morkov finished 1 hour, 19 minutes and 10 seconds behind the tour leader, still Bradley Wiggins, and 1 hour, 1 minute and 30 seconds ahead of the tail of the tour, Tyler Farrar of Garmin-Sharp.
Stage Twelve – No fulcrum.
Stage Thirteen – Michael Morkov once again grabs the Point d’Appui after abandons allowed 163 riders to come home. He finished 1 hour, 30 minutes and 48 seconds behind the tour leader and 1 hour, 6 minutes and 28 seconds ahead of the caboose, Tyler Farrar.
Stage Fourteen – No fulcrum.
Stage Fifteen – No fulcrum.
Stage Sixteen – No fulcrum.
Stage Seventeen – After Frank Schleck was pulled from the race before the start of Stage 17, on odd number of riders were left to come home. Christophe Kern of Europcar, who shared the cusp on Stage 8 of the 2012 Tour de France, squeaked into the general classification Point d’Appui by the end of the day.
Stage Eighteen – Yaroslav Popovych, riding for Radioshack-Nissan, moved up a spot on State 18, squeaking into the fulcrum and knocking Christophe Kern out of the position.
Stage Nineteen – Vasili Kiryienka of Team Movistar edges Yaroslav Popovych off the center and takes the Point d’Appui during the third individual time trial of the tour.
Stage Twenty – On the gentlemen’s ride into Paris, placing among the riders changes little on the Champs Élysées, and the Belarussian Vasili Kiryienka of Team Movistar wins the Point d’Appui of the 2012 Tour de France. He finished 2 hours, 22 minutes and 2 seconds behind winner Bradley Wiggins and 1 hour, 35 minutes and 34 seconds ahead of the Lanterne Rouge, Jimmy Engoulvent.

July 22, 2012

Going into Paris, Kiryienka Holds Point d’Appui

After the individual time trials on Saturday, Vasili Kiryienka of Movistar has gotten ahold of the Point d’Appui on the eve of the finish to the 2012 Tour de France.

The Belarussian Kiryienka found his way to Les Cuspides on Stage 15, stayed close to fulcrum in the intervening stages before gaining time on Yaroslav Popovych in the time trial Saturday to steal the fulcrum from him.

There is still a chance that a late move up or down in the rankings on the final day could affect the Point d’Appui, but Kiryienka looks a lock for the middle spot.

Marco Marzano got the Point d’Appui on the stage. He’s still a contender for overall if things shift a little on the Champs Élysées.

July 20, 2012

Christophe Kern Becomes Newest Point d’Appui

Christophe Kern of Europcar, who shared the cusp on Stage 8 of the Tour de France, squeaked into the general classification Point d’Appui at the end of Stage 17.

Kern is sitting dead center of the peloton, 2:10:10 behind Tour leader Bradley Wiggins and 1:15:13 ahead of the new Lanterne Rouge, Jan Ghyselinck of Cofidis. The riders came home Thursday with an odd number after Radio Shack-Nissan pulled Frank Schleck.

Several riders are within striking distance as we go into a third day in the Pyrenees: Yaroslav Popovych, Marco Marzano, Andrey Kashechkin and Guillaume Levarlet. The nearest is only 40 seconds away from the fulcrum.

Barring more positive drug test results, the tour may finish with another Point d’Appui, its 52nd since the race began.

Point d'Appui

Stage Races