July 12, 2012

Morkov Hits the Fulcrum After Tap Dancing Around It

Michael Morkov

Michael Morkov of Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank finally caught hold of the general classification Point d’Appui in Stage 11 of the 2012 Tour de France. Morkov finished in Les Cuspide on Stage 9 and tip-toed around both sides of the fulcrum on other stages. He finished 1:19:10 behind the leader of the Tour de France, Bradley Wiggins, and 1:01:30 ahead of the new Lanterne Rouge, Tyler Farrar of Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda.

Morkov is pedaling an interesting line during this year’s tour, a track rider who manages to grab the mountain climber’s polka dot jersey for several stages and yet still slides into the middle just past the midway point of the tour. Also nibbling around the edges are Yaroslav Popovych and Vladimir Karpets, two riders whom we have been watching for the GC Point d’Appui.

On the stage, Dimitry Fofonov of Astana turned in the Point d’Appui performance of the day, finishing one place behind Jérôme Pineau, who finished as a Cuspide on the Prologue.

Notes on Stage 11:

Cyril Gautier, who held the Point d’Appui GC on Stage 10 continued his climb up the rankings, finishing another 20 places higher after the climbing through the beyond-classification mountains of Stage 11.
Jimmy Engoulvent of Saur-Sojusan climbed a spot to escape the Lanterne Rouge, leaving it to Tyler Farrar.

July 8, 2012

Rugged Stage 8 Finds Marzano, Kern on Cusp

Another three riders abandoned on Stage 8, leaving the Tour de France without a Point d’Appui. After a rugged day in the mountains, the general classification Cuspides fell to Marco Marzano of Lampre-ISD in 89th position and Christophe Kern of Europcar in 90th position. Marzano fell back 25 positions while Kern gained 30 positions to land in the middle.

Marzano, who won the Point d’Appui in the Critérium du Dauphiné earlier this year, is 31:48 behind leader Bradley Wiggins of Sky and nearly 40 minutes ahead of the Lanterne Rouge.

On the stage, Lars Ytting Bak of Lotto Belisol finished 89th and Fabian Cancellara of RadioShack-Nissan finished 90th on the stage to finish as Les Cuspides. They were part of a large group that finished 12:19 behind stage winner Thibaut Pinot of FDJ-Bigmat.

The Point d’Appui after Stage 7, Sébastien Hinault had a very difficult day and fell back nearly 30 positions on the ride from Belfort to Porrentruy, Switzerland. The riders crossed seven categorized climbs with the last, the Col de la Croix, having the steepest rise of the day.

Notes from Stage 8:

Several commentators had compared Stage 8 of the 2012 tour with Stage 7 of the 2010 Tour de France, which Sylvain Chavanel of Quickstep won and, thus, might be a favorite for Stage 8 this year. Stage 7 of 2010 ended with an even number of riders on the day and so there was no fulcrum, but Les Cuspides on the day were the Norwegians Edvald Boasson Hagen and Thor Hushovd. Hushovd is not at this year’s tour and Boasson Hagen is riding better this year than in 2010, so neither could be considered a favorite for the Point d’Appui on this stage. In fact, he finished 10 positions ahead of the Point d’Appui.
Three abandons, notably Sammy Sanchez, leader of Euskaltel-Euskadi, brought the number of finishers to 180.
Pauvre Brice Feillu continues to hang onto the tail end of the tour. He finished just 2 minutes back of Tyler Ferrar.

July 7, 2012

Mountain Stage Brings New Point d’Appui in Tour de France

Sébastien Hinault at the 2011 Critérium du Dauphiné

The steep mountain finish on Stage 7 of the 2012 Tour de France has reshuffled the deck and put a new rider — Sébastien Hinault of AG2R La Mondiale — in the general classification Point d’Appui.

The sprinters fell back in overall time and the hill climbers moved forward. The Point d’Appui spun like the revolving door at Macy’s. By the end of the day, 17 riders had abandoned the tour, leaving 181 riders to come home.

Hinault, a sprint specialist, slipped back 15 positions from his Stage 6 finish to land on the fulcrum, 21:12 behind the new tour GC leader, Bradley Wiggans of Sky, and 34 minutes ahead of Brice Feillu, who has suffered illness through the first week of the tour and still holds the Lanterne Rouge.

The Point d’Appui on the stage is Nicki Sôrensen of Team Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank. Sôrensen started the tour a little off the average pace, crept into the front half of the by Stage 3. In Stage 6, he slipped down the general classification significantly, another rider slowed by the late crash in the day. On Stage 7, his finish at the fulcrum brought him closer to the GC Point d’Appui. Expect him to move further up on Saturday.

Major riders who abandoned overnight included Ryder Hesjedal and Robbie Hunter, both of Garmin, and Oscar Freire of Katusha.

Notes on Stage 7:

Les Cuspides on Stage 6 — Sammy Dumoulin and Juan Haeda — both slipped down the GC rankings.
Michael Morkov of Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank unexpectedly held the polka dot jersey through several early stages. Morkov is much better on the track and is hoping to better his 2008 Silver finish for the team pursuit in the upcoming Olympics. The mountains of Stage 7 took the polka dot jersey away from him and pushed him back to within two spots of the 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

April 29, 2012

Cadel Evans Starts Romandie in Fulcrum; Kiryienka Finishes It

Belarussian Vasil Kiryienka of Movistar Team finished in the Point d’Appui of the 2012 Tour de Romandie. Kiryienka finished in 67th place among 133 riders who came home. He was 2:35:95 behind the winner, Bradley Wiggins of Sky Procycling, and 4:45 ahead of the Lanterne Rouge, Giacomo Nizzolo of RadioShack-Nissan.

Interestingly, or ironically, or coincidentally, the winner of the 2011 Tour de France, Cadel Evans, finished as the Point d’Appui at the end of the Tour de Romandie’s prologue. He didn’t stay there long, but he didn’t make a real run at the front either.

The general classification Point d’Appui included:

Prologue: Cadel Evans
Stage 1: Volodymir Gustov
Stage 2: Eduard Vorganov
Stage 3: No fulcrum
Stage 4: No fulcrum
Stage 5: Vasil Kiryienka

The Point d’Appui for each stage included:

Prologue: Cadel Evans
Stage 1: Jean Marc Marino
Stage 2: John Gadret
Stage 3: No fulcrum
Stage 4: No fulcrum
Stage 5: Yannick Talabardon

March 11, 2012

Paris-Nice Finishes Even Up

An even 156 riders finished Paris-Nice, meaning no Point d’Appui could be awarded. Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain, riding for Sky Procycling, won the race with a time of 22:31:52.

Les Cuspides for Paris-Nice were two Italians: Leonardo Bertagnolli of Lampre-ISD, who finished 21:52 behind Wiggins, and Paolo Longo Borghini of Liquigas-Cannondale, who finished 22:17 back.

The Lanterne Rouge for the race was Polish rider Jaroslaw Marycz of Team Saxo Bank, coming in 1:15:35 behind the leader.