July 27, 2015

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.

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 7, 2015

Tour Remains on Les Cuspides After Three Stages

A crash on Stage 3 of the Tour de France caused havoc in the general classifications, provided to a new yellow jersey and forced four abandons. Since an even number survived, we still have no Point d’Appui in the 2015 tour.

After Stage 2, the two riders on Les Cuspides were Daniele Bennati of Tinkoff-Saxo and Lars Boom of Astana Pro Team. Bennati held the Point d’Appui at the end of Stage 13 in the 2013 Tour de France and has found his way to the cusp during races in 2012 and 2014 as well.

After today’s Stage 3, the two riders on the cusp of the fulcrum are Bram Tankink of Team LottoNL-Jumbo and Ivan Basso of Tinkoff-Saxo. Basso won the Point d’Appui in the 2014 USA Pro Challenge.

The four riders who abandoned the race due to crashes were Simon Gerrans of Orica GreenEdge, Dmitrii Kozonchuk of Team Katusha, Tom Dumoulin of Team Giant-Alpecin and William Bonnet of FDJ.fr.

Christopher Froome of Sky is quite surprisingly the holder of the yellow jersey, and Michael Matthews of Orica GreenEdge, who came home battered and bloodied, now tenuously holds the Lanterne Rouge.

September 15, 2014

Keizer Wins Vuelta’s 2014 Point d’Appui

Martijn Keizer of Belkin Pro Cycling moved up one place to earn the Point d’Appui for the 2014 Vuelta a España.

Keizer joined Belkin at the last moment this season and rode to higher placement this year than in his two previous Vueltas (153rd in 2011 and 103rd in 2012), but a slight drop from his 63rd place showing in the Giro.

Alberto Contador Velasco of Tinkoff-Saxo won the race and Andrea Guardini of Astana Pro Team wound up with the Lanterne Rouge.

Stage-by-stage results:

Stage 1 – No fulcrum
Stage 2 – No fulcrum
Stage 3 – No fulcrum
Stage 4 – No fulcrum
Stage 5 – No fulcrum
Stage 6 – No fulcrum
Stage 7 – Daniele Bennati of Tinkoff-Saxo
Stage 8 – Nikolas Maes of Omega Pharma-Quick-Step
Stage 9 – No fulcrum
Stage 10 – No fulcrum
Stage 11 – No fulcrum
Stage 12 – No fulcrum
Stage 13 – No fulcrum
Stage 14 – Simon Clarke of Orica GreenEdge
Stage 15 – No fulcrum
Stage 16 – Kristof Vandewalle of Trek Factory Racing
Stage 17 – Tom Boonen of Omega Pharma
Stage 18 – No fulcrum
Stage 19 – Kristof Vandewalle of Trek Factory Racing
Stage 20 – Johan Le Bon of FDJ.fr
Stage 21 – Martijn Keizer of Belkin Pro Cycling

August 29, 2014

Bennati Takes First Fulcrum of 2014 Vuelta

After six stages without a fulcrum, three abandons left 195 riders to come on Stage 7 of the 2014 Vuelta a España, Daniele Bennati of Tinkoff-Saxo is this year’s first Point d’Appui.

Bennati, an accomplished sprinter, has won six stages at the Vuelta, most recently in 2012, and won points classification in 2008. He also won two stages of the Tour de France back in 2007.

Bennati held the Point d’Appui after Stage 13 of this year’s Tour de France and shared les Cuspides after Stage 9 of the 2012 Tour de France.

Alejandro Valverde of Movistar Team remains the leader of the race although several riders are tucked in close behind.

Matteo Pelucchi of IAM Cycling holds onto the Lanterne Rouge, finishing 1 hour, 44 minutes and 6 seconds behind Valverde.

The three riders who abandoned due to injuries were Romain Sicard of Team Europcar, Aleksejs Saramotins of IAM Cycling and Ivan Santaromita of Orica GreenEdge.

On the stage, the. British racer David Millar of Garmin Sharp won the fulcrum.

Cuspides on the first six stages:

Stage 1 – Rinaldo Nocentini of AG2R La Mondiale and Lloyd Mondory of AG2R La Mondiale
Stage 2 – Elia Favilli of Lampre-Merida and David Arroyo Of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
Stage 3 – Paolo Longo Borghini of Cannondale and Manuel Quinziato BMC Racing Team
Stage 4 – Luis Leon Sanchez of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA and Bart De Clercq of Lotto Belisol
Stage 5 – Lawrence Warbasse of BMC Racing Team and Yauheni Hutarovich of AG2R La Mondiale
Stage 6 – Greg Henderson of Lotto Belisol and Paolo Longo Borghini of Cannondale

July 28, 2014

2014 Tour Finishes Without a Fulcrum

Perrig Quemeneur

Lars Bak

The 164 survivors came home to Paris on Sunday, leaving the 2014 Tour de France without a fulcrum rider, but Lars Bak of Lotto-Belisol and Perrig Quemeneur of Team Europcar finished on les Cuspides of the general classification for the Point d’Appui. Bak finished in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 41 seconds behind the tour winner, Vincenzo Nibali of Astana.

The riders on the cusp after Stage 20 decamped in opposite directions. Imanol Erviti Ollo of Movistar stayed forward with the leading group on the Champs-Élysées and moved up a spot in placement, while Blel Kadri of AG2R-La Mondiale dropped off the back after helping lead his team out earlier in the day.

Bak and Quemeneur have been close to the center of the peloton on numerous occasions this tour, although neither was within 10 places of the fulcrum at the half-way point of the tour, and they did not land on the cusps until the final Stage 21 of the tour. Previously, Bak, a Danish time trial champion, was briefly on the cusp of fulcrum after Stage 9 of the 2012 Tour de France.

Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing Team had the time closest to the overall tour median time of 3 hours, 1 minute and 12 seconds.

Cheng Ji, the long-suffering Lanterne Rouge, lost more time on the final stage, but survived the time cuts and became the first Chinese bicyclist to ride in the tour and to finish the tour, albeit 6 hours behind Nibali.

The winner of Stage 14, the stage that happened to have the middle distance of 177 kilometers, was rookie Rafal Majka of Tinkoff-Saxo, who attacked the escapees on the final climb to claim his first stage victory in Risoul.

The tour, of course, will be less remembered for rookies than for the number of top contenders who abandoned due to injuries: Andy Schleck, Christopher Froome, Alberto Contador, Andrew Talansky and the sprinter Mark Cavendish.

Let’s take a brief look at a few of the 34 riders who were not able to finish the tour but who are not household names:

Mark Cavendish was not the only rider out before the end of Stage 2. Sprinter Sacha Modolo of Lampre-Merida, riding in his first Tour de France, abandoned during Stage 2 due to illness. He was still 30 kilometers from finishing the day. Said Modolo: “It’s a great disappointment to me. I dreamed of this race. I tried to not give up, but it was not enough.” The day before, he missed out on the bunch sprint for the only stage he finished because a teammate fell at a crucial point and he waited to help lead the rider back into the peloton.
Andy Schleck had to abandon in Stage 4. Gregory Henderson of Lotto Bellisol also abandoned during Stage 4 after a late crash that also brought down two of his teammates and spoiled lead-out hopes for Andre Greipel in that day’s sprint finish. Upbeat despite the crash (or perhaps still slightly dazed), Henderson wrote to fans: “Silly crash and I landed on my weak knee. It just exploded. Messy looking thing. Off to surgery now.”
Alberto Contador abandoned during Stage 10, and another rider did as well. Mathew Hayman, at 36 the oldest bicyclist to be riding in his first Tour de France, said before the race: “The Tour is obviously every pro rider’s dream. But I didn’t have the chance to ride it yet. A matter of circumstances. … My goal is really to complete this Tour all the way to Paris.” His top finish was 12th on the cobblestone Stage 5. After crashing out on Stage 10, the Australian native told the Sydney Morning Herald: “I appreciate that I at least got to start and experience racing in the U.K. with those crowds. But I still feel like there’s a bit of a hole there … [after] the waiting that I’ve done for years to get there.”
Simon Spilak, suffering a stomach ailment, abandoned Stage 17 after about 31 kilometers just prior to the mountains. Spilak also abandoned during his last Tour de France in 2010. In the 2009 tour, however, he rode into Paris in 109th place. This year, Spilak won stages in the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré and the Tour de Romandie, and his loss from the tour hurt his Katusha team. Of all those who abandoned this year, Spilak had the average placement closest to the average of stage finishes of all the abandonments put together.

The Gray Jersey traded hands eight times during the race after Tom Veelers finished Stage 5 as the first Point d’Appui of the tour. Twelve stages, including the finale finished without a fulcrum. The stage-by-stage general classification results for Point d’Appui:

Stage 1 – No fulcrum.
Stage 2 – No fulcrum.
Stage 3 – No fulcrum.
Stage 4 – No fulcrum.
Stage 5 – Tom Veelers of Team Giant-Shimano
Stage 6 – Tom-Jelte Slagter of Garmin-Sharp
Stage 7 – No fulcrum.
Stage 8 – No fulcrum.
Stage 9 – Jérémy Roy of FDJ.
Stage 10 – No fulcrum
Stage 11 – Sébastien Reichenbach of IAM Cycling
Stage 12 – Ben King of Garmin-Sharp
Stage 13 – Daniele Bennati of Tinkoff-Saxo
Stage 14 – Johan Van Summeren of Garmin-Sharp
Stage 15 – Matthieu Ladagnous of FDJ.fr
Stage 16 – Koen De Kort of Team Giant-Shimano. De Kort finished in 92nd, within 10 spots off the fulcrum.
Stage 17 – No fulcrum
Stage 18 – No fulcrum. Vasili Kiryienka, the winner of the 2012 Tour de France Point d’Appui was one of les Cuspides in Stage 17 and 18. Kiryienka finished the full tour in 86th, only 3 spots off the fulcrum.
Stage 19 – No fulcrum
Stage 20 – No fulcrum
Stage 21 – No fulcrum

July 18, 2014

Bennati Lands on Fulcrum During First Alpine Stage

Daniele Bennati of Tinkoff-Saxo slipped back three spots and into the overall Point d’Appui during Stage 13 of the 2014 Tour de France as more abandons narrowed the field to 173 finishers. Vincenzo Nibali again rode in complete command of the race, finishing first atop Chamrousse, the first beyond-category mountain climb.

Bennati, a sprinter, has won two stages in the 2007 Tour de France and the green jersey in half a dozen stage races, including the Vuelta a España. Although Bennati suffered slightly on this year’s first day in the Alps, he did much better than most of the sprinters. He has finished in the general classification this year as high as 70th and as far back as 150th.

Daniel Navarro Garcia of Cofidis, Arthur Vichot of FDJ.fr and Janier Alexis Acevedo Calle of Garmin-Sharp abandoned the race during the stage, . Alexander Porsev of Team Katusha, who helped lead out teammate Alexander Kristoff to the Stage 12 win the day before, had not the energy to finish within the time limit of Stage 13 and was eliminated.

Cheng Ji of Team Giant-Shimano continues to hold onto the Lanterne Rouge, three and a half hours adrift of Nibali.

On the stage, another Tinkoff-Saxo rider, Michael Morkov, won the Point d’Appui. Morkov previously held the general classification Point d’Appui in Stage 11 of the 2012 Tour de France.

July 7, 2013

2012 Winner, Kiryienka, Dropped for Time

Bad news to report. Vasil Kiryienka, the winner of the 2012 Point d’Appui in the Tour de France and one of the Sky team members riding in support of Chris Froome, has been dropped from the race after finishing beyond the time limit on Stage 9. The peloton was scattered across the Pyrenees after Garmin-Sharp threw caution to the wind and dropped the anvil on the pedals.

Kiryienka, who had looked like a strong contender for his second Point d’Appui after finishing at the fulcrum at the end of this year’s Stage 6, must have spent his legs on Saturday during the first mountain stage. He wobbled home Sunday and couldn’t get under the time requirement.

Along with Kiryienka, there were four other abandons — one who did not start and three who did not finish the day. As a result, 182 riders are still in the race, and there is no Point d’Appui at the moment. Les Cuspides are shared by Sergey Lagutin of Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling and Daniele Bennati of Saxo-Tinkoff. Lagutin held the Point d’Appui after Stage 5, but several other riders remain close to the center, including Stage 8’s fulcrum, Adam Hansen.

With a rest day coming on Monday and a relatively level run on Stage 10, perhaps no more of the favorites will be dropped from the race.

Tom Veelers of Argos-Shimano remains the Lanterne Rouge.