2015 Tour de France Ends Without Fulcrum; Martens, Perichon on Cusps

An even number of riders finished the 2015 Tour de France on the streets of Paris, so a Point d’Appui can’t be awarded this year. Because of the rain and a likely heightened danger if the entire peloton charged the oily cobbles of the Champs, race officials declared all riders to have the same time for the day, meaning that the two riders on the cusp of the fulcrum after Stage 20 retained their position.

Paul Martens of Team LottoNL-Jumbo and Pierre-Luc Perichon of Bretagne-Séché Environnement are Les Cuspides for the 2015 Tour.

The leader of the race, Christopher Froome of Sky, and the last rider in, Sébastien Chavanel of FDJ, remained in their respective positions as well. Sylvain Chavanel of IAM Cycling, possibly riding his last tour, had the time closest to the median of all racers.

Twelve riders held the Point d’Appui during the course of the race, an average number for the Tour.

The stage-by-stage general classification:

  • Stage 1 – No fulcrum.
  • Stage 2 – No fulcrum.
  • Stage 3 – No fulcrum.
  • Stage 4 – Adriano Malori of Movistar.
  • Stage 5 – Armindo Fonseca of Bretagne-Séché Environnement.
  • Stage 6 – No fulcrum.
  • Stage 7 – No fulcrum.
  • Stage 8 – Haimar Zubeldia of Trek Factory Racing.
  • Stage 9 – Serge Pauwels of MTN-Qhubeka
  • Stage 10 – Daniele Bennati of Tinkoff-Saxo, who took a hard fall the next day and had to abandon.
  • Stage 11 – Rohan Dennis of BMC.
  • Stage 12 – Wouter Poels of Team Sky.
  • Stage 13 – Wouter Poels of Team Sky.
  • Stage 14 – No fulcrum.
  • Stage 15 – Angelo Tulik of Team Europcar.
  • Stage 16 – Paul Voss of Bora-Argon 18.
  • Stage 17 – Brice Feillu of Bretagne-Séché Environnement.
  • Stage 18 – Perrig Quemeneur of Team Europcar.
  • Stage 19 – No fulcrum.
  • Stage 20 – No fulcrum.
  • Stage 21 – No fulcrum.

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.