July 3, 2012

Perez Hits Daily Double in Les Cuspides

The Tour de France sets off on Stage 3 from Orchies to Boulogne-sur-Mer.

After two abandons during Stage 3, and even number of riders finished the stage, and we are still left without a Point d’Appui in the Tour de France. Les Cuspides for overall classification are Aliaksandr Kuchynski of Katusha, who came in 98th, and Rubén Perez of Euskaltel-Euskadi, who came in 99th. They are both 7 minutes and 2 seconds behind the yellow jersey of Fabian Cancellara and 23:03 ahead of the Lanterne Rouge, Brice Feillu.

Ruben Perez

Perez, one of five riders in today’s break-away, hit the Point d’Appui daily double, also finishing as one of Les Cuspides on Stage 3. Rarely does a rider get Les Cuspides in both general classification and for the stage. Perez finished 98th on the stage, just ahead of Juan Horrach of Katusha. Both of them were 3:54 behind stage winner Peter Sagan.

July 2, 2012

Cavendish Only a Spot Out of Fulcrum

Despite winning Stage 2 of the Tour de France, Mark Cavendish could only get to the off-side of les Cuspides of the 2012 Tour de France. There is no Point d’Appui yet since we still have an even number of riders in the race.

The fast flat course of Stage 2 did not favor much movement of riders’ times around the center of the peloton, still we have a new pair of Cuspides since all 198 riders — a bit banged up and gimpy — came home.

Kristin Koren of Liquigas-Cannondale finished 99th and Daryl Impey of Orica GreenEdge finished 100th to win les Cuspides for Stage 2. Cavendish finished 101st in the overall classification, just behind Impey

On the stage, Ruben Plaza Molina of Movistar and Rafael Valls Ferri of VacanSoleil-DCM charged down the middle.

July 1, 2012

Lancaster, Curvers Split Stage 1 at Tour de France

Despite crashes in the last 10 kilometers of the stage, all 198 racers made it home, so there is no Point d’Appui yet. Brett Lancaster of Orica GreenEdge and Roy Curvers of Argos-Shimano are the new Cuspides for the general classification. Lancaster finished 2:18 behind the maillot jaune worn by Fabian Cancellara and 7:25 ahead of the Lantern Rouge, Guillaume Levarlet of Saur-Sojasun.

Brett Lancaster

Roy Curvers

Lancaster won a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics for team pursuit and has won a couple of prologues, including the 2005 Giro and the 2008 Deutschland Tour. Hat tip to Curvers, who finished dead last in the Prologue and moved half-way up the field during Stage 1. Another move up like that and he would be thinking podium.

Meanwhile, Yukiya Arashiro of Europcar and Peter Velits of Omega Pharma-Quick Step finished on les cuspides for Stage 1. Arashiro is the first Japanese rider ever to reach the cuspide in the Tour de France. Velits had been in the initial lead group coming into Seraing but had to drop back in the last minute because of mechanical problems. Arashiro came home 1:25 behind the winner and 27 seconds ahead of Velits,who also had the average speed for the stage.

During the final 10 kilometers, the cross wind, the narrow twisting route and a pinheaded photographer standing midstream produced several relatively minor crashes and splintered the field.

Other notes:

Yohann Gene, a rider for Team Europcar who made it into the break, won the intermediate sprint.
Michael Morkov of Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, also in the break, took the king of the mountain points at the middle Category 4 hill, as well as two other hill climbs, enough to grab the polka-dot jersey.
Our prediction that Sandy Casar might slide back from his placement after the Prologue to grab the Stage 1 Point d’Appui wasn’t too far off. Casar actually slid one spot behind the cuspide on the stage and about 8 spots back on the general classification.
Les Cuspides from the Prologue rode in opposite directions. Tom Danielson moved from the middle to the 35th position, and Jérôme Pineau fell to 173rd.

June 30, 2012

Preview: Stage 1 of the 2012 Tour de France

Stage 1 of the Tour de France runs from the Belgian city of Liège in a big counterclockwise circle to finish at Seraing, Belgium, barely a stone’s throw away on the other side of the Meuse River. Although there are mountain points available at five locations, they are all Category 4, which means most of the sprinters will probably take them in stride and make the dash at the end of the day for the hilltop finish.

We think that means that some of the true climbers — someone like Jérôme Pineau who finished on the Prologue’s cusp — have the best shot at getting the Point d’Appui. The run into Seraing could get dicey since the entire peloton is likely to come together for the finish and the final kilometers have a few nasty kinks in the cord. Odds are good that all will come home we’ll still have an even number of riders and no fulcrum on the day, but the early stages are the most jittery and anything can happen. (I’m trying not to say that odds are better than even that a crash will force a couple of riders to abandon because, really, who wants to jinx an opening stage?)

Although Pineau is a likely suspect to be the first Point d’Appui, it’s more likely that sprinters behind him will move up in the rankings and push another rider down to the Point d’Appui. Sandy Casar of FDJ-Bigmat, now in 88th position, seems a likely suspect.

June 30, 2012

Pineau, Danielson Share Cusp of Tour de France Prologue

Because the 2012 Tour de France started with an even number of riders and all of them successfully finished the 6 kilometer time trial, there is no Point d’Appui for the prologue stage.

With 151 riders through the prologue, Chris Horner of Radioshack-Nissan sat on the Point d’Appui, slipping out as the faster riders began finishing during the latter part of the time trial. After 181 riders had crossed the finish, Imanol Erviti of Movistar had found himself at the fulcrum.

Jérôme Pineau during the prologue of the 2012 Tour de France. From the Cyclism´ Actu

By the finish of all the racers, however, les Cuspides for the prologue were Jérôme Pineau of Omega Pharma-Quickstep in 99th place and Thomas Danielson of Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda in 100th, both of them finishing 31 seconds adrift. Six riders, including Thomas Voeckler, finished with both the median and average speed of 33 seconds behind the winner, Fabian Cancellara of Radioshack-Nissan.

Tomorrow’s Stage 1 includes a little hilliness with its own geological point d’appui, the Baraque de Fraiture, which peaks at 606 meters just after the feed zone, lunchtime being its own daily fulcrum. Ride in the middle. Eat in the middle.

June 30, 2012

Preview of the 2012 Tour de France

The preview for the Point d’Appui in the 2012 Tour de France is not good, not bad, somewhere in between. The defending Point d’Appui, Markel Irizar, was left home by Radio Shack, perhaps because of his wonderful break on the first stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné. Irizar got in the break with five other riders at about the 4 kilometer mark. The peloton gave them almost too much room, but the escapees let the mob back in by fighting among themselves. Irizar, though, got a jump on the break group and stayed away until 5 kilometer mark.

Likewise, Fabio Sabatini, who won the fulcrum at the Giro d’Italia, is not at the Tour de France.

Other contenders include:

George Hincapie of BMC may have the best shot. He is clearly looking to ride in support of the BMC team leader, Cadel Evans, or whomever pedals forward if Evans isn’t back to his 2012 form. Hincapie finished on the cusp of both the Tour of Flanders and the Paris-Roubaix. This is his last chance to be the camel’s back.
Marco Marzano, riding for Lampre-ISD, is another possibility. Marzano finished in the Point d’Appui at the Dauphiné, riding with perfectly fine form.
Vasil Kiryienka of Movistar Team took home the Point d’Appui in the Tour de Romandie and is another possibility.
Robert Gesink of Rabobank is probably a long-shot, having won the Point d’Appui at Liége-Bastogne-Liége, and long-shots rarely fall to the middle, although several stages this year favor him.

June 17, 2012

Tour de Suisse Finishes in les Cuspides

Norwegian Lars Petter Nordhaug of Sky Procycling and German Fabian Wegmann of Garmin-Barracuda split the Point d’Appui at the 2012 Tour de Suisse, finishing above and below the fulcrum, respectively. Wegman finished 38:24 behind winner Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa of Movistar with Nordhaug another 50 seconds in arrears.

Only two stages in the Tour de Suisse finished with an odd number of riders and therefore a fulcrum on the day. The general classification Point d’Appui finishes included:

Stage 1: No fulcrum
Stage 2: No fulcrum
Stage 3: Greg Van Avermaet
Stage 4: No fulcrum
Stage 5: No fulcrum
Stage 6: No fulcrum
Stage 7: Marzio Bruseghin
Stage 8: No fulcrum
Stage 9: No fulcrum

And Point d’Appui for each stage included:

Stage 1: No fulcrum
Stage 2: No fulcrum
Stage 3: Dario Cataldo
Stage 4: No fulcrum
Stage 5: No fulcrum
Stage 6: No fulcrum
Stage 7: Marzio Bruseghin
Stage 8: No fulcrum
Stage 9: No fulcrum

June 10, 2012

Marzano Swings into Dauphiné’s Fulcrum

In the 2012 Critérium du Dauphiné, Marco Marzano moved up three positions in the final stage to win the Point d’Appui. Marzano finished 27:14:03 behind the winner, Bradley Wiggins of Sky Procycling, and 58 minutes ahead of the Lanterne Rouge, Alan Perez Lezaun of Euskatel-Euskadi.

Always a threat to the middle, Irizar Markel finished two spots ahead of the Marzano, barely missing out on a second Point d’Appui.

The fulcrum changed hands five times during the race, and only two of the stages finished with an even number of riders and thus no fulcrum. The following are the overall Point d’Appui holders at the end of each stage:

Prologue: Stijn Vandenbergh
Stage 1: Arthur Vichot
Stage 2: No fulcrum
Stage 3: No fulcrum
Stage 4: Daniel Teklehaimanot
Stage 5: Alessandro Vanotti
Stage 6: Luis Angel Mate Mardones
Stage 7: Marco Marzano

May 27, 2012

Italian Sabatini Takes Point d’Appui at Giro

Fabio Sabatini, gritting his teeth while on the cobbles during the 2008 Paris-Roubaix, via Wikipedia. Sabatini finished dead middle of the 2012 Giro d’Italia.

Fabio Sabatini, riding for Liquigas-Cannondale, finished in the fulcrum position at the end of the Giro d’Italia, giving Italy some comfort after missing the podium while a Canadian won the race and a Spaniard took the Lanterne Rouge.

Sabatini finished in 79th place, 2:59:14 behind the leader.

Canadian Ryder Hesjedal of Garmin won the 21-stage race with a time of 91:39:02, and Spaniard Miguel Minguez Ayala of Eusktel finished the race in the last position, 5:27:06 behind Hesjedal and nearly two and a half hours behind Sabatini, who, by the way, was the Lanterne Rouge at the 2011 Tour de France.

The point d’appui for general classification after each stage:

Stage 1-6: No fulcrum
Stage 7: Francisco J. Ventoso Alberdi
Stage 8: Matteo Monteguti
Stage 9: Luke Roberts
Stage 10: No fulcrum
Stage 11: Matthias Frank
Stage 12: No fulcrum
Stage 13: Matthias Brandle
Stage 14: No fulcrum
Stage 15: Francesco Failli
Stage 16: No fulcrum
Stage 17: Simon Ponzi
Stage 18: Simon Ponzi
Stage 19: Francisco J. Ventoso Alberdi
Stage 20: Fabio Sabatini
Stage 21: Fabio Sabatini

Simon Ponzi, who finished in the fulcrum position in Stages 17 and 18 backed off the pace during Stage 19 and fell 10 places back of Sabatini by the end of the race.

The point d’appui for each stage:

Stage 1-6: No fulcrum
Stage 7: Fabio Sabatini
Stage 8: Cristiano Salerno
Stage 9: Dominico Pozzovivo
Stage 10: No fulcrum
Stage 11: Frank Schleck
Stage 12: No fulcrum
Stage 13: Taylor Phinney
Stage 14: No fulcrum
Stage 15: Jens Keukeleire
Stage 16: No fulcrum
Stage 17: Matthias Frank (who also hit point d’appui in general classification during Stage 11)
Stage 18: Marco Pinotti (winner of Stage 21)
Stage 19: Guillaume Bonnafond
Stage 20: Victor Cabedo
Stage 21: Matthias Brandle (who also hit point d’appui in general classification during Stage 13)

May 20, 2012

No Point in the Tour of California

The Amgen Tour of California has finished without a Point d’Appui, and even 110 riders coming home. Les Cuspides for the tour were Columbian Andrés Díaz Corrales of Team Exergy in 55th place and Austrian Wesley Sulzberger of Orica-GreenEdge finishing 56th, just 19 seconds back.

As with several other races this year, Irizar Markel chased the corners of the Point d’Appui up until the end of the race, finishing one spot out of the cuspides. Most of the stages also finished with an even number of riders finishing each day.

General classification finishes each stage:

Stage 1: No fulcrum
Stage 2: No fulcrum
Stage 3: Jasper Stuyven
Stage 4: No fulcrum
Stage 5: No fulcrum
Stage 6: No fulcrum
Stage 7: No fulcrum
Stage 8: No fulcrum

Point d’Appui for the stage:

Stage 1: No fulcrum
Stage 2: No fulcrum
Stage 3: Alex Howes
Stage 4: No fulcrum
Stage 5: No fulcrum
Stage 6: No fulcrum
Stage 7: No fulcrum
Stage 8: No fulcrum