July 24, 2021

Olympic Men’s Race Ends With No Fulcrum; Iberians Claim Middle

Riders from Iberian peninsula claimed the fulcrum of the 2021 Olympic men’s road race. Olivera Nelson of Portugal and Alejandro Valverde of Spain as Les Cuspides finished 41st and 42nd among the 82 finishers in a race that ended up without a Point d’Appui.

Nelson and Valverde were part of a group of 19 riders who came home together a little over 10 minutes adrift of the gold medalist, Richard Carapaz of Ecuador.

More than 40 riders did not finish the race, many of them abandoning after a large crash with 150 kilometers still remaining.

The Lanterne Rouge went to Hugo Houle of Canada.

August 25, 2014

Vuelta Remains in les Cuspides after Stage 2

All 198 riders came home through Stage 2 of the 2014 Vuelta a España, leaving the race without a fulcrum. Elia Favilli of Lampre-Merida and David Arroyo of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA were on the cusp of the fulcrum after the stage, finishing 99th and 100th, respectively.

Stef Clement of Belkin Pro Cycling Team is the current Lanterne Rouge, finishing more than five and a half minutes behind race leader Alejandro Valverde of Movistar Team.

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.