May 30, 2021

Pasqualon

Andrea Pasqualon of Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux won the Point d’Appui of the 2021 Giro d’Italia, finishing 72nd among the 143 riders who came safely home in Milano. Pasqualon previously was on the cusps of the fulcrum during Stage 4 of the 2017 Tour de France.

The Lanterne Rouge for the race was also a rider on Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux, Riccardo Minali of Italy, who came home 5 hours, 35 minutes and 49 seconds adrift of the winner, Egan Bernal Gomez of Ineos Grenadiers.

Riders at the fulcrum position after each stage:

Stage 1 – No fulcrum
Stage 2 – Matteo Fabbro of Bora-Hansgrohe
Stage 3 – Stefano Oldani of Lotto Soudal
Stage 4 – Tejay van Garderen of EF Education-Nippo
Stage 5 – No fulcrum
Stage 6 – No fulcrum
Stage 7 – Jens Keukeleire of EF Education-Nippo
Stage 8 – No fulcrum
Stage 9 – No fulcrum
Stage 10 – No fulcrum
Stage 11 – No fulcrum
Stage 12 – No fulcrum
Stage 13 – No fulcrum
Stage 14 – Tejay van Garderen of EF Education-Nippo
Stage 15 – No fulcrum
Stage 16 – No fulcrum
Stage 17 – No fulcrum
Stage 18 – Harm Vanhoucke of Lotto Soudal
Stage 19 – No fulcrum
Stage 20 – Jan Tratnik of Bahrain Victorious
Stage 21 – Andrea Pasqualon of Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux

August 29, 2020

Crashes Plague Opening Stage of the 2020 Tour de France, Neilands at Middle

Rain, narrow roads and first-day jitters stretched the peloton frequently after several crashes during Stage 1 of the 2020 Tour de France, the result being our first Point d’Appuit of the race: Krists Neilands of Israel Start-Up Nation.

2019 was an impressive year for Neilands, who won the Latvian National Road Championships, the general classification for Tour de Hongrie and the Grand Prix de Wallonie. He looked quite strong during the first three stages of Paris-Nice during March. He rides in support of team leader Dan Martin.

The winner of the overall 2019 Point d’Appui, Élie Gesbert of Arkéa–Samsic, is notable to defend his title in the Tour de France this year. He suffered a fractured kneecap at Challenge Mallorca in February. Good wishes for his continued return to racing.

Stage 1 started in Nice and followed loops that took riders over the Aspremont three times before ending in a wild sprint finish in Nice as well. Alexander Kristoff won the stage over the 176-rider field with a strong push during the bunch sprint along the long straight-away.

A crash just after the 3-kilometer flag winnowed the field, but the 3K rule allowed the fallen to collect the same time as the leading riders. John Degenkolb of Lotto Soudal finished outside the time limit, so only 175 riders were scored.

Michael Schär of CCC Team, part of the three-person break, scored enough points on the two trips over the Class 3 Ĉote de Rimiez to win the polka dot jersey on the stage. The peloton caught the break with about 35 miles left on the day.

Rafael Valls Ferri of Bahrain McLaren is the Lanterne Rouge.

July 28, 2019

Elie Gesbert Takes Point d’Appui in 2019 Tour de France

Elie Gesbert

In a year when the Tour de France did not have a repeat stage winner until Stage 13, it’s perhaps a turn of favor that only six riders held the Point d’Appui during the tour. On the Champs Elysees, the winner of the grey jersey turned out to be Elie Gesbert, the 24-year-old rider for the Breton team Arkéa Samsic.

Gesbert was named most combative rider Stage 14 of this year’s tour. He got in the break on the day that the tour went over the Col du Soulour, staying with Vincenzo Nibali and Tim Wellens over the top and then making his own mad dash up the Col du Tourmalet. He won most combative rider on Stage 12 of the 2018 Tour de France and won best young rider in this year’s Tour of Oman and the same award twice earlier in separate editions of the Tour du Limousin.

The Point d’Appui through the stages so far:

Stage 1 — No fulcrum
Stage 2 — No fulcrum
Stage 3 — No fulcrum
Stage 4 — No fulcrum
Stage 5 — No fulcrum
Stage 6 — No fulcrum
Stage 7 — No fulcrum
Stage 8 — No fulcrum
Stage 9 — Dylan van Baarle of Team Ineos
Stage 10 — Jens Keukeleire of Lotto Soudal
Stage 11 — Jens Keukeleire of Lotto Soudal
Stage 12 — No fulcrum
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 — Toms Skujins of Trek-Segafredo
Stage 20 — Elie Gesbert of Arkéa Samsic
Stage 21 — Elie Gesbert of Arkéa Samsic

Egan Bernal of Team Ineos won the general classification after strong work in the Alps, including a clear stamp of authority going over the Col de l’Iseran more than 2 minutes ahead of the yellow jersey, Julian Alaphilippe, on Stage 19 when the race was cut short as a result of snow, sleet, hail, rain and mudslides further along the route, real wrath of God kind of stuff. Bernal, the youngest rider in this year’s race, is the first Colombian to win the Tour de France. Sebastian Langeveld of EF Education First held the Lanterne Rouge on the final run into Paris.

July 18, 2019

At Mid-Point of 2019 Tour, Keukeleire Holds Point d’Appui

Jens Keukeleire of Lotto Soudal. [Harelbeke – E3 Harelbeke, 27 maart 2015 (B051).JPG from Wikimedia Commons by Jérémy-Günther-Heinz Jähnick, CC-BY-SA 3.0]

Stage winners of the 2019 Tour de France continued to change daily through the Stage 11, the mid-point of the race, but the stage brought the first repeat winner of the Point d’Appui of the race, Jens Keukeleire of Lotto Soudal.

Keukeleire won a stage in the 2016 Vuelta a España as well as finishing as the stage Point d’Appui during Stage 15. He also won general classification in the Baloise Belgian Tour in 2017 and 2018. This is his third Tour de France.

The crash by Alessandro De Marchi of CCC Team during Stage 9 left the race with its first odd number of racers finishing the day and the first Point d’Appui of the race. De Marchi crashed heavily and had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. He suffered a broken collarbone, ribs and a small collapse of his lung.

Riders had abandoned in earlier stages but coincidentally they had gone out in pairs, leaving the race with an even number of survivors each day until Stage 9.

The Point d’Appui through the stages so far:

Stage 1 — No fulcrum
Stage 2 — No fulcrum
Stage 3 — No fulcrum
Stage 4 — No fulcrum
Stage 5 — No fulcrum
Stage 6 — No fulcrum
Stage 7 — No fulcrum
Stage 8 — No fulcrum
Stage 9 — Dylan van Baarle of Team Ineos
Stage 10 — Jens Keukeleire of Lotto Soudal
Stage 11 — Jens Keukeleire of Lotto Soudal

The yellow jersey of the race so far is Julian Alaphilippe of Deceuninck-QuickStep, and the Lanterne Rouge is Yoann Offredo of Wanty-Gobert, who has held the red jersey since Stage 6. Offredo held the GC Point d’Appui after Stage 6 of the 2017 Tour de France.

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.

July 24, 2017

Arndt Wins 2017 Tour Point d’Appui

Bicycle racers in the Tour de France rounding a curve.

Nikias Arndt, winner of the Point d’Appui in the 2017 Tour de France, rides in protection of Warren Barguil, the holder of the polka dot jersey.

After a tour in which the Point d’Appui changed hands 16 times, Nikias Arndt of Team Sunweb grabbed the fulcrum on Saturday’s individual time trial and held onto it Sunday, despite some last minute changes in the standings swirling around him.

Arndt was one of the riders leading out the eventual winner of the points classification, Michael Matthews, but also riding in support of Sunweb’s eventual winner of the King of the Mountains, Warren Barguil, who was also named the most-combative rider overall. So Sunweb takes home four of the top seven honors available in the Tour: the green jersey, the polka dot, the red jersey number and the gray jersey of the Point d’Appui.

Arndt won minor tours early in his career, including the Tour of Alanya and the Tour of Berlin, more recently winning the points classification in the Tour of Bulgaria and best young rider of the Arctic Race of Norway. He won the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race earlier this year. He has ridden in the Vuelta a Españas three times, finishing as the Lanterne Rouge in the 2016 edition, and twice in the Giro d’Italia, winning stage 21 of the 2016 Giro.

This was Arndt’s first Tour de France. He finished 11th on Stage 1 of the Tour, the individual time trial, with the same time as fellow German Marcel Kittel of the Quick-Step Floors team and Edvald Boasson Hagen of the Dimension Data team. He rose to 10th place on Stage 2 and held that spot until Stage 5, slowly settling back to the middle of the peloton. In the final time trial of the Tour, Stage 20, Arndt finished at 7th place on the stage, showing he still had legs under him. Sunweb, which signed him for the 2017 season, announced the next day that it would extend his contract.

The winner of the Tour, of course, was Christopher Froome of Team Sky, and his teammate Luke Rowe finished as the Lanterne Rouge, 4 hours, 35 minutes and 52 seconds adrift. The median time of the race also went to a Team Sky cyclist, Michal Kwiatkowski, who had a time of 2 hours, 7 minutes and 48 seconds.

On the stage, Dylan Groenewegen of Team LottoNl-Jumbo won the sprint on the Champs-Élysées, and Daniel Martin of the Quick-Step Floors team, was the fulcrum finisher for the day.

The general classification fulcrum placement by stage:

Stage 1: No fulcrum.
Stage 2: Jay McCarthy of Bora-Hansgrohe.
Stage 3: Janez Brajkovič of Bahrain-Merida.
Stage 4: No fulcrum.
Stage 5: Vegard Stake Laengen of UAE Team Emirates.
Stage 6: Yoann Offredo of the Wanty-Groupe Gobert team.
Stage 7: Yukiya Arashiro of the Bahrain-Merida team.
Stage 8: Mike Teunissen of Team Sunweb.
Stage 9: Nils Politt of the Katusha-Alpecin team.
Stage 10: No fulcrum.
Stage 11: Michael Albasini of the Orica-Scott team.
Stage 12: Paul Martens of Team LottoNl-Jumbo.
Stage 13: Michael Schär of BMC Racing Team.
Stage 14: No fulcrum.
Stage 15: Andrey Amador of Movistar Team.
Stage 16: Jay McCarthy of the Bora-Hansgrohe team.
Stage 17: Danilo Wyss of BMC Racing Team.
Stage 18: Andrey Amador of Movistar Team.
Stage 19: Danilo Wyss of BMC Racing Team. Wyss finished on the cusps of the 2013 Vuelta.
Stage 20: Nikias Arndt of Team Sunweb.
Stage 21: Nikias Arndt of Team Sunweb.

July 15, 2017

Schär Takes Fulcum During Bastille Day Stage

Michael Schär of BMC, © Matthieu Riegler, CC-BY This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

Another mountain stage, and Michael Schär of BMC Racing Team is the newest Point d’Appui as the standings fell like jackstraws during Stage 13 of the 2017 Tour de France.

Schär won a string of time trials at the Swiss National Junior Road Championships in the mid-2000s, turning pro in 2007 and signing with Astana. He joined BMC in 2010. He has ridden once in the Vuelta a España and once in the Giro d’Italia. This is his seventh Tour de France and he has finished as high as 43rd in 2014.

Frenchman Warren Barguil of Team Sunweb won Stage 13, He and Nairo Quintana of Movistar Team crossed from the group of leaders to join Alberto Contador of the Trek-Segafredo team and Mikel Landa of Team Sky on final climb. Barguil grabbed the mountain points and then sat on for the rest of the ride into Foix before sprinting out of the four-person group. The other three didn’t mind too much, all gaining back time on Aru and Froome.

Andrew Talansky of the Cannondale-Drapac team was the fulcrum rider on the stage.

Fabio Aru of Astana Pro Team remains the leader of the Tour de France for a second day as pulled back each challenge during the climbs and final descent. Luke Rowe of Team Sky remains the Lanterne Rouge.

July 13, 2017

Into the Pyrenees and Another New Point d’Appui

Paul Martens of Team LottoNl-Jumbo is the newest holder of the general classification Point d’Appui in the 2017 Tour de France. The yellow jersey also changed hands on the pitched climb to Peyragudes on Stage 12, the Tour’s first day in the Pyrenees.

Martens finished the 2015 Tour de France on the cusp of the fulcrum, but this is his first time to land on the fulcrum. He has bounced around the standings, finishing as high as 31st place after the Stage 2, primarily on the strength of his time trial on Stage 1, and now as low as 90th place. He was one of many riders caught up in the first crash in the Stage 4 sprint leadout, but finished easily once everyone else got disentangled. This is his third Tour de France. He has also raced in the Giro d’Italia twice and in the Vuelta a España three times. He won the Grand Prix de Wallonie in 2010 and the Tour of Luxembourg in 2013.

Fabio Aru of Astana Pro Team made a break on the final wall of the final climb but didn’t have quite enough oxygen to win the stage. Romain Bardet of the AG2R La Mondiale team came around him and Rigoberto Uran of the Cannondale-Drapac team caught Aru as both went over the line with the same assessed time. They and three more riders dropped Christopher Froome far enough for Aru to move into the general classification lead. Froome is now 6 seconds behind Aru; Bardet is another 9 seconds adrift; and Uran is another 30 seconds down.

Froome perhaps used up a little adrenalin on the descent after the Port de Bales, when he momentarily followed teammate Michal Kwiatkowski straight through a corner and onto a short garden tour of caravans parked alongside the road. They quickly rejoined the other leaders though and seemed poise to hold off all challengers on the final climb, but Froome didn’t have the legs on this day.

Alexey Lutsenko of the Astana Pro Team was the stage Point d’Appui, and Luke Rowe of Team Sky retains the Lanterne Rouge.

Below is a video of the Stage 4 crash in which Martens went down. It was footage from a GoPro camera aboard the bicycle of Matteo Trentin of the Quick-Step Floors team and posted to Facebook by Velon CC.

July 12, 2017

Albisini Takes Fulcrum on Fulcrum Stage

Michael Albisini

On the fulcrum stage of the 2017 Tour de France, a new leader in the Point d’Appui emerged by the end of the day: Michael Albasini of the Orica-Scott team. Albasini was on the cusps of the fulcrum after Stage 10.

Albasini has been racing professionally since 2003, winning the Tour of Austria in 2009 and the Tour of Britain the next year. He won a stage of the 2014 Vuelta a España and was also part of the GreenEdge team in 2013 that won the team time trial in that year’s Tour de France. More recently, he won the sprinter’s points classifications in the 2016 Tour de Romandie and the Tour de Suisse. This is Albasini’s ninth Tour de France, and his highest finish was 50th in 2014. It’s his first time on the fulcrum.

On the stage, Marcel Kittell of the Quick-Step Floors team once again crossed the finish line first. Reto Hollenstein of the Katusha-Alpecin team finished at the fulcrum position on the stage.

Christopher Froome continues to lead the race, with an 18 second lead over Fabio Aru and 51 seconds ahead of Romain Bardet. “He’s like a frog in a sock,” Robbie McEwen’s description of Chris Froome’s riding style. We have a new Lanterne Rouge. Luke Rowe, the wingman for Froome, slipped back into the last position, displacing Olivier Le Gac of the FDJ team who had held the Lanterne Rouge since Stage 3.

Dario Cataldo of the Astana Pro Team abandoned after a crash in the feed zone in which he came down on one hand and injured his wrist. Astana leader Jakob Fuglsang also came down but finished the stage, finding out afterward that he had a couple of small fractures.

July 11, 2017

Tour Returns to Les Cuspides After Rest Day

Rafal Majka of the Bora-Hansgrohe team did not start Stage 10, putting the 2017 Tour de France back in Les Cuspides with 180 riders. Alberto Bettiol of the Cannondale-Drapac team and Michael Albasini of the Orica-Scott team share the cusps of the fulcrum after Stage 10.

Bettiol held the general classification Point d’Appui on Stage 19 of the 2016 Giro.

Stage 10 was otherwise quiet with a traditional sprint finish. Yoann Offredo, who rides for the Wanty-Groupe Gobert team and held the general classification Point d’Appui at the end of Stage 6, was one of two riders who made a break from the get-go and survived until 7 kilometers to go.

Marcel Kittell of the Quick-Step Floors team finished first on the stage, his fourth stage victory of the 2017 Tour. Sky’s Chris Froome continues to hold an 18-second lead over Fabio Aru of the Astana team and a 51-second lead on Romain Bardet of the AG2R La Mondiale team. Olivier Le Gac of the FDJ team continues to hold the Lanterne Rouge.

Seven riders have held the fulcrum spot so far in this year’s Tour de France.

Point d'Appui

Stage Races