July 18, 2015

DQ of Sepulveda Puts Tour Back in Les Cuspides

One hundred and seventy-two riders remain in the 2015 Tour de France after Stage 14, leaving the race without a fulcrum. Simon Yates of Orica GreenEdge, who got into the break (if indeed it was Simon and not his twin, Adam) and Reto Hollenstein of IAM Cycling held Les Cuspides at the end of the stage. Wouter Poels, who held the Point D’Appui on Stages 12 and 13, dropped five places.

Steve Morabito of FDJ.fr and Ramon Sinkeldam of Team Giant-Alpecin were unable to finish the day, and Eduardo Sepulveda of Bretagne-Séché Environnement was disqualified for hitching a ride for about a hundred meters in an AG2R team car after his bicycle had mechanical problems on the final climb up to Mende.

Chris Froome of Sky gained another second over his rivals in the GC competition, and Sam Bennett of Bora-Argon 18 retains the Lanterne Rouge.

July 18, 2015

Poels Holds Point d’Appui for Second Day

Wouter Poels of Team Sky retained the Maillot Gris for the second day in a row, despite finishing 101st on the stage. We’re not sure how that math works to allow that, whether the overall time changes were small enough or balanced enough, Woot holds onto the Point d’Appui after Stage 13.

Other competitors near the middle include Markel Irizar of Trek Factory Racing, who won the 2011 Tour Point d’Appui, and Rohan Dennis of BMC Racing Team, who held the fulcrum after Stage 11.

On the other hand, the Lanterne Rouge since Stage 4, Michael Matthews of Orica GreenEdge, finished 17th on the stage and gained two places, handing last place to Sam Bennett of Bora-Argon 18.

Chris Froome still holds the yellow jersey, close behind the top finishers at Rodez.

July 16, 2015

Poels Climbs into Point d’Appui atop Plateau de Beille

Wouter Poels

Another day in the Pyrenees led to a new Point d’Appui on Stage 12 of the 2015 Tour de France. The fulcrum after Stage 11, Rohan Dennis, dropped back one place and Wouter Poels of Team Sky moved up to the middle.

Poels joined Team Sky at the beginning of January and picked up his first stage win for the team in March racing in the Tirreno–Adriatico, where finished 7th overall, leading the team after Chris Froome withdrew. During the Tour de France, as you might imagine, Poels has been riding tempo with Richie Porte and Geraint Thomas in support of Froome.

Chris Froome of Sky retains the yellow jersey, despite a plethora of attacks from other GC leaders. Meanwhile, Michael Matthews of Orica GreenEdge still holds the Lanterne Rouge.

Zakkari Dempster of Bora-Argon 18 and Alex Dowsett of Movistar Team had to abandon, leaving the peloton with 175 riders to come home atop the Plateau de Beille.

July 16, 2015

Dennis at Fulcrum Point on Fulcrum Stage of Tour

Rohan Dennis of BMC, the new leader in the Point d’Appui competition.

The fulcrum stage of the 2015 Tour de France, Stage 11, saw a new leader in the contention for the Point d’Appui after the previous holder crashed and had to abandon. Rohan Dennis of BMC moved several spots up in the general classification to land on fulcrum point of the fulcrum stage of a difficult mountain stage.

The hot, steep climbs over the Col d’Aspin and Col du Tourmalet put the placement of riders below the top 20 into the jackstraws.

Rafal Majka of Tinkoff-Saxo won the stage atop the hill of Cauterets, riding solo much of the afternoon and dedicating his win in part to his teammate Daniele Bennati, who had led in the Point d’Appui competition after the Stage 10. Bennati crashed hard relatively early in the stage and had to abandon.

Along with the loss of Bennati, the Tour saw five more abandons on the day: Dominik Nerz of Bora-Argon 18, Rui Costa of Lampre-Merida, Daniele Bennati of Tinkoff-Saxo, Johan Van Summeren of AG2R La Mondiale, Ben Gastauer of AG2R La Mondiale and Rein Taaramae of Astana Pro Team.

Chris Froome of Sky still leads the general classification and Michael Matthews of Orica GreenEdge still holds the Lanterne Rouge, but he has gained time on other riders in le autobus. He is less than a minute behind Alex Dowsett of Movistar Team.

July 15, 2015

Bennati on Fulcrum after First Mountain Stage

At the end of the first mountain stage, Daniele Bennati of Tinkoff-Saxo landed at the Point d’Appui of the Tour de France.

Daniele Bennati

Bennati has held the fulcrum after stages in previous Tours and the 2014 Vuelta as well as sharing the cusp of the fulcrum after Stage 2 of this year’s tour. He has remained close to the middle and landed at the fulcrum today after helping lead out Alberto Contador to the base of the climb to La Pierre-St.-Martin.

Like so many riders, Contador couldn’t hang with the stiff pace set by Chris Froome, who won the stage, gained more than a minute on his closest rival and retains the yellow jersey. Neither Nairo Quintana nor T.J. Van Garderen could maintain Froome’s pace but both managed to succeed in retaining podium spots. There are, however, more days in the Pyrenees and then the Alps to continue testing them.

Michael Matthews, the holder of the Lanterne Rouge, dropped further behind the penultimate rider in the tour.

Ivan Basso and Lars Boom did not start Stage 10. Basso, who was on the cusp of the Point d’Appui after Stage 3, left the race after receiving a diagnosis of testicular cancer. Boom, who was on the cusp after Stage 2, departed with the flu.

July 11, 2015

Zubeldia at Fulcrum After Stage 8 of Tour de France

Haimar Zubeldia

Haimar Zubeldia of Trek Factory Racing finished in the top 30 on the stage with a good enough time to pull him up into the fulcum spot of the 2015 Tour de France after Stage 8. His time is 26 minutes and 35 sconds behind the leader Christopher Froome and 45 minutes ahead of the Lanterne Rouge, Michael Matthews.

Luca Paolini of Team Katusha did not start Stage 8, putting the number of riders still in the race at 185.

The winner of the stage Alexis Vuillermoz of AG2R La Mondiale, who broke away from the lead group on the uphill finish. Daniel Martin of Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team reacted too slowly to catch Vuillermoz, and the leaders’ group had not reason to chase. Vincenzo Nibali, the 2014 Tour champion, was dropped on the final climb. Whether that showed a bad day or was indicative of general condition will get answered on the time trial and then the upcoming Pyrenees.

July 10, 2015

Gene, Trentin on Les Cuspides after Stage 7

Yohann Gene of Team Europcar and Matteo Trentin of Etixx-Quick-Step found their way to the cusps of the fulcrum at the end of Stage 7 of the 2015 Tour de France. Trentin has shared the Les Cuspides before, finishing on cusp at the end of Stage 9 of the 2014 Tour. One hundred and eighty-six riders remain in this year’s race.

Christopher Froome of Team Sky regained the yellow jersey at the end of the after the withdrawal of Tony Martin after Stage 6 following a crash near the end of the day. Michael Matthews of Orica GreenEdge soldiers on as the Lanterne Rouge.

On the stage, of course, Mark Cavendish got his first stage win in the Tour de France since 2013.

July 10, 2015

High and Lows in Stage 6: Martin Abandons; Teklehaimanot Grabs Polka Dot

The Tour de France returned to Les Cuspides on Stage 6. Julien Simon of Cofidis and Damien Gaudin of AG2R La Mondiale shared placement on the cusp of the fulcrum.

The crash of tour leader Tony Martin and the subsequent announcement that he would abandon due to a broken collarbone made the stage win by teammate Zdenek Stybar a pyrrhic victory.

On the other hand, the work done by Daniel Teklehaimanot of MTN-Qhubeka to pick up the 3 mountain-climber points available on the course of Stage 6 meant that he is the first Eritrean and, in fact, the first African to stand on the Tour de France podium. He won the mountain jersey in this year’s Critérium du Dauphiné.

Also, Armindo Fonseca, who held the Point d’Appui after Stage 5, finished strongly on Stage 6, attaining 14th place in the sprint finish.

The yellow jersey was still held by Martin at the end of the stage, although it , and Michael Matthews remains the Lanterne Rouge.

July 8, 2015

Fonseca Slips into Point d’Appui after Stage 5

Stage 5 of the 2015 Tour de France wasn’t quite as crazy as Stage 4, but that’s not saying much. Two more abandons as the result of crashes left the peloton with 189 riders to come home. Armindo Fonseca of Bretagne-Séché Environnement wound up as the Point d’Appui in the general classification at the end of the day.

Nacer Bouhanni of Cofidis and Jack Bauer of Cannondale-Garmin had to leave the race after crashes. Bouhani hit the deck just 10 kilometers into the stage; Bauer went down with several teammates not long afterward.

Tony Martin remained in the yellow jersey at the end of the day, and Michael Matthews retained the Lanterne Rouge.

July 7, 2015

Malori Is First Competitor to Grab Point d’Appui in 2015 Tour

Adriano Malori in the Tour de Romandie 2010, Stage 3. Photo by Fanny Schertzer and licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

After three riders were unable to start Stage 4 of the Tour de France, 191 riders were left to come home on a long but fast day, quiet sizzle after the furious pop of Stage 3. Adriano Malori of Movistar sat at the fulcrum of the peloton at the end of the stage and is the first rider of the 2015 Tour to hold the Point d’Appui.

Malori, the Lanterne Rouge of the 2010 Tour de France, has won three of the last five National Time Trial Championships of Italy, including this year’s contest. He also won the final time trial, Stage 21, in the 2014 Vuelta a España.

With his strong finish, Tony Martin of Etixx-Quick-Step was able to just finish enough ahead of Chris Froome to gain the maillot jaune. Michael Matthews of Orica GreenEdge remained the Lanterne Rouge, although if he mends enough he will assuredly climb out of last place.