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.

August 19, 2012

Pauriol Grabs Overall Point d’Appui

Rémi Pauriol, photo by jmreymond

After an abandon prior to the start of Stage 2, we were left with 197 riders to come home. Rémi Pauriol of FDJ-Bigmat held tight to the middle and finished as the Vuelta a España’s first Point d’Appui in the general classification.

Pauriol shared les Cuspides with teammate David Boucher after Stage 1, but Boucher fell off the bus during Stage 2 and wound up in last position on the day, filling in for Enrico Gasparotto of Astana, Stage 1’s last-place finisher. Gasparotto crashed hard in Stage 1 during the team time trial, suffering a triple broken collar. He pedaled to the finish in last place but came home outside the time limit and was unable to start Sunday.

Pauriol finished 57 seconds behind race leader Jonathan Castroviejo and 12 minutes 56 seconds ahead of Boucher.

Tomasz Marczynski of Vacansoleil-DCM finished on the fulcrum for the stage.

Here’s hoping the racers cool their heels a bit and we avoid more race-ending crashes.

August 18, 2012

Astana, AG2R on Cusp after Vuelta Team Trial

The Vuelta a España began Saturday with a team time trial. With 22 teams finishing and 198 riders coming home, there was no Point d’Appui on the day. The teams Astana and AG2R la Mondiale finished 10th and 11th, respectively, to settle in as les Cuspides on the opening day.

David Boucher

Rémi Pauriol

Two members of FDJ-Bigmat — Rémi Pauriol and David Boucher — finished as the individual les Cuspides, 57 seconds behind leader Jonathan Castroviejo of Movistar. They finished more than 8 minutes ahead of Enrico Gasperotto of Astana, who finished as the Lanterne Rouge on the first day.

Using a team trial to start the Vuelta makes assessment of the fulcrum more difficult. Each team’s finish is a reflection of its team members’ ability to hang together and serve the weakest among themselves, the antithesis of most stage races, where the weakest protect the team leader for as long and as well as they can. Predicting the fulcrum for Sunday’s road stage is anything if not mediocre.

However, if we must guess, we would go with Team Radioshack’s Markel Irizar, who won the Point d’Appui in the 2011 Tour de France as well as one stage in the 2011 Vuelta, was only three places off the fulcrum. Radioshack appears to be setting him up for another run at the overall Point d’Appui in the Vuelta this year.

CyclingNews quotes Irizar thusly about the likely ease but possible difficulty of Stage 2: “I know this area well and it can be windy around. This should be one of the easiest stages but it depends where the finish is exactly. Often races finish on a short, 800m hill in Viana. It could complicate things for the sprinters.”

The defending champion of the Point d’Appui for the 2011 Vuelta, Lloyd Mondory of AG2R la Mondiale, finished in 130th place.