September 16, 2013

Wyss, Kiryienka Finish on Cuspides of 2013 Vuelta

The 2013 Vuelta a España finished without a Point d’Appui, an even 144 riders coming home to Madrid, but two strong contenders for the Point d’Appui in earlier races this season finished on the cusp of the fulcrum.

Danilo Wyss of BMC and Vasil Kiryienka of Sky Procycling shared the dubious honors of finishing as Les Cuspides at 72nd and 73rd place. Wyss held the fulcrum in the 2013 Giro d’Italia near the end of the race, but an abandon put him on the cusp at the finish. Kiryienka, who won the Point d’Appui in the 2012 Tour de France and the 2012 Tour de Romandie, was on track to win the 2013 Tour de France Point d’Appui as well, but finished outside the time limit on Stage 9 and was dropped from the race.

Overall, the 2013 Vuelta a España resulted in a nominal number of stage finishes — only six of 21 — with a general classification Point d’Appui.

Wyss finished 2 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds behind the winner of the Vuelta, Christopher Horner of RadioShack Leopard, and 2 hours and 10 minutes ahead of the Lanterne Rouge, Massimo Graziato of Lampre-Merida. The rider with the median time on the race was Matthew Busche of RadioShack Leopard.

The state-by-stage general classification results for the 2013 Vuelta a España:

Stage 1 – Maciej Paterski of Cannondale
Stage 2 – No fulcrum
Stage 3 – No fulcrum
Stage 4 – No fulcrum
Stage 5 – Alexandre Geniez of FDJ
Stage 6 – Kevin De Weert of Omega Pharma-Quick Step
Stage 7 – Fabian Cancellara of RadioShack Leopard
Stage 8 – No fulcrum
Stage 9 – No fulcrum
Stage 10 – No fulcrum
Stage 11 – Andrey Zeits of Astana
Stage 12 – Alex Howes of Garmin-Sharp
Stage 13 – No fulcrum
Stage 14 – No fulcrum
Stage 15 – No fulcrum
Stage 16 – No fulcrum
Stage 17 – No fulcrum
Stage 18 – No fulcrum
Stage 19 – No fulcrum
Stage 20 – No fulcrum
Stage 21 – No fulcrum

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 3, 2012

Perez Hits Daily Double in Les Cuspides

The Tour de France sets off on Stage 3 from Orchies to Boulogne-sur-Mer.

After two abandons during Stage 3, and even number of riders finished the stage, and we are still left without a Point d’Appui in the Tour de France. Les Cuspides for overall classification are Aliaksandr Kuchynski of Katusha, who came in 98th, and Rubén Perez of Euskaltel-Euskadi, who came in 99th. They are both 7 minutes and 2 seconds behind the yellow jersey of Fabian Cancellara and 23:03 ahead of the Lanterne Rouge, Brice Feillu.

Ruben Perez

Perez, one of five riders in today’s break-away, hit the Point d’Appui daily double, also finishing as one of Les Cuspides on Stage 3. Rarely does a rider get Les Cuspides in both general classification and for the stage. Perez finished 98th on the stage, just ahead of Juan Horrach of Katusha. Both of them were 3:54 behind stage winner Peter Sagan.

June 30, 2012

Pineau, Danielson Share Cusp of Tour de France Prologue

Because the 2012 Tour de France started with an even number of riders and all of them successfully finished the 6 kilometer time trial, there is no Point d’Appui for the prologue stage.

With 151 riders through the prologue, Chris Horner of Radioshack-Nissan sat on the Point d’Appui, slipping out as the faster riders began finishing during the latter part of the time trial. After 181 riders had crossed the finish, Imanol Erviti of Movistar had found himself at the fulcrum.

Jérôme Pineau during the prologue of the 2012 Tour de France. From the Cyclism´ Actu

By the finish of all the racers, however, les Cuspides for the prologue were Jérôme Pineau of Omega Pharma-Quickstep in 99th place and Thomas Danielson of Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda in 100th, both of them finishing 31 seconds adrift. Six riders, including Thomas Voeckler, finished with both the median and average speed of 33 seconds behind the winner, Fabian Cancellara of Radioshack-Nissan.

Tomorrow’s Stage 1 includes a little hilliness with its own geological point d’appui, the Baraque de Fraiture, which peaks at 606 meters just after the feed zone, lunchtime being its own daily fulcrum. Ride in the middle. Eat in the middle.