July 6, 2017

Offredo Gets Fulcrum as Laengen Slips Following Ride in Break

Yohann Offredo

Yoann Offredo of the Wanty-Groupe Gobert team took over the general classification Point d’Appui on Stage 6 of the 2017 Tour de France after the fulcrum holder on Stage 5, Vegard Stake Laengen, got into the break during Stage 6, slipped in the standings after the break was caught and was awarded Most Combative Rider for Stage 6.

Offredo won the most-combative jersey on Stage 2 as one of two riders who pulled away from a four-person break but who were nevertheless caught by the peloton with 1 kilometer left in the race.

Offredo finished 14th in both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix this year and is riding in his first grand tour. While on a training ride with two friends during April, he was assaulted by thugs who apparently did not like bicyclists, but he took no time off from racing despite his injuries.

Laengen got into a break within the first kilometer with Perrig Quemeneur of the Direct Energie team and Frederik Backaert of Wanty-Groupe Gobert. The worked well together through 198 kilometers before the peloton swallowed them up, and the sprinters’ teams set up for the finish.

Christopher Froome of Team Sky remains the leader of the tour, and Olivier Le Gac of the FDJ team continues to hold the Lanterne Rouge.

On the stage, Marcel Kittel of the Quick-Step Floors team finished first for his second stage win of the 2017 Tour, and Bauke Mollema of the Trek-Segafredo team wound up at the fulcrum position.

A quick review of past contenders for the Point d’Appui shows that:

Vasili Kiriyenka of Team Sky, winner of the Point d’Appui in the 2012 Tour de France, is just two spots behind Offredo.
Lars Bak of the Lotto Soudal team and Perrig Quemeneur of Direct Energie, who finished on the cusps of the 2014 Tour de France, are both slightly ahead of the Point d’Appui.
Markel Irizar, winner of the 2011 Point d’Appui in the Tour, is more than a dozen spots behind Offredo.
Andriy Grivko of Astana Pro Team and Fabio Sabatini of the Quick-Step Floors team, who won the Point d’Appui in the 2010 and 2012 Giros, respectively, are currently at 128th and 129th places, respectively. Sabatini, of course, provided a perfect lead-out for stage winner Kittell.
Daniel Navarro of the Cofidis, Solutions Credits team, who won the Point d’Appui in the 2011 Giro, is ahead of the curve at 79th place.
Greg Van Avermaet of BMC Racing Team, who won the Point d’Appui in the 2008 Vuelta a España, is in 70th place.

June 2, 2015

Zardini Finishes on Fulcrum for 2015 Giro

Edoardo Zardini

Edoardo Zardini of Bardiani CSF, who grabbed the Point d’Appui at the end of Stage 2, returned to the middle at the end of the race and finished as the Point d’Appui for the 2015 Giro d’Italia.

During 2014, Zardini won stages in the Giro del Trentino and the Tour of Britain, finishing fourth overall in the latter.

Alberto Contador of Tinkoff-Saxo finished the Giro wearing the maglia rosa, and Marco Coledan of TrekRacing came in at 6 hours and 40 minutes behind Contador to win the Lanterne Rouge.

Simon Clarke of Orica GreenEdge finished in 3 hours, 20 minutes, 33 seconds – the time closest to the median time. Vasil Kiryienka, who won the Point d’Appui in the 2012 Tour de France was only two spots off the fulcum in the general classification.

The general classification for the Point d’Appui:

Stage 1 – Bertjan Lindeman.
Stage 2 – Edoardo Zardini.
Stage 3 – Daniele Colli.
Stage 4 – Fabio Sabatini.
Stage 5 – No fulcrum.
Stage 6 – Pieter Weening.
Stage 7 – Axel Domont.
Stage 8 – Brent Bookwalter.
Stage 9 – No fulcrum.
Stage 10 – Manuele Mori.
Stage 11 – Sonny Colbrelli.
Stage 12 – No fulcrum.
Stage 13 – No fulcrum.
Stage 14 – Luca Paolini. (Vasil Kiryienka of Team Sky, who won the overall Point d’Appui in the 2012 Tour de France, was the stage winner of this 59.2km time trial.)
Stage 15 – No fulcrum.
Stage 16 – No fulcrum.
Stage 17 – Simon Geschke.
Stage 18 – Davide Malacarne.
Stage 19 – No fulcrum.
Stage 20 – Edoardo Zardini.
Stage 21 – Edoardo Zardini.

May 27, 2012

Italian Sabatini Takes Point d’Appui at Giro

Fabio Sabatini, gritting his teeth while on the cobbles during the 2008 Paris-Roubaix, via Wikipedia. Sabatini finished dead middle of the 2012 Giro d’Italia.

Fabio Sabatini, riding for Liquigas-Cannondale, finished in the fulcrum position at the end of the Giro d’Italia, giving Italy some comfort after missing the podium while a Canadian won the race and a Spaniard took the Lanterne Rouge.

Sabatini finished in 79th place, 2:59:14 behind the leader.

Canadian Ryder Hesjedal of Garmin won the 21-stage race with a time of 91:39:02, and Spaniard Miguel Minguez Ayala of Eusktel finished the race in the last position, 5:27:06 behind Hesjedal and nearly two and a half hours behind Sabatini, who, by the way, was the Lanterne Rouge at the 2011 Tour de France.

The point d’appui for general classification after each stage:

Stage 1-6: No fulcrum
Stage 7: Francisco J. Ventoso Alberdi
Stage 8: Matteo Monteguti
Stage 9: Luke Roberts
Stage 10: No fulcrum
Stage 11: Matthias Frank
Stage 12: No fulcrum
Stage 13: Matthias Brandle
Stage 14: No fulcrum
Stage 15: Francesco Failli
Stage 16: No fulcrum
Stage 17: Simon Ponzi
Stage 18: Simon Ponzi
Stage 19: Francisco J. Ventoso Alberdi
Stage 20: Fabio Sabatini
Stage 21: Fabio Sabatini

Simon Ponzi, who finished in the fulcrum position in Stages 17 and 18 backed off the pace during Stage 19 and fell 10 places back of Sabatini by the end of the race.

The point d’appui for each stage:

Stage 1-6: No fulcrum
Stage 7: Fabio Sabatini
Stage 8: Cristiano Salerno
Stage 9: Dominico Pozzovivo
Stage 10: No fulcrum
Stage 11: Frank Schleck
Stage 12: No fulcrum
Stage 13: Taylor Phinney
Stage 14: No fulcrum
Stage 15: Jens Keukeleire
Stage 16: No fulcrum
Stage 17: Matthias Frank (who also hit point d’appui in general classification during Stage 11)
Stage 18: Marco Pinotti (winner of Stage 21)
Stage 19: Guillaume Bonnafond
Stage 20: Victor Cabedo
Stage 21: Matthias Brandle (who also hit point d’appui in general classification during Stage 13)