July 20, 2016

Peter Sagan Holds Green and Grey Jerseys of Tour

Don’t look back: The main group advances upon Peter Sagan on the climb up Col de la Forclaz the during Stage 17 of the Tour de France.

Peter Sagan got into the break on Stage 17 of the 2016 Tour de France to make sure he swept up the intermediate sprint points available to secure the sprinters’ Green Jersey. Then the race hit the first alpine mountain climb of the day, and Sagan wound up at the fulcrum of the general classification and now owns the Grey Jersey of the Point d’Appui for the second time during the race.

Sagan held the GC Point d’Appui after Stage 9, and has held the Yellow Jersey during three stages of the 2016 edition as well.

The 184-kilometer stage held four mountain climbs, two Category 3s, a Category 1 and a Beyond Category climb for the finish at Switzerland’s Finhaut-Emosson, a spectacular dam and man-made lake high in the Alps.

Several riders who have held the Point d’Appui this tour or have been on the cusps remain close to the middle of the peloton despite the turn into the mountains, including Anthony Delaplace, Jan Barta, Tony Gallopin and Michael Valgren among them. The riders on either side of Sagan’s time are only 6 and 7 seconds away from him, so a myriad of riders could still make it to the fulcrum before Paris.

The peloton is reduced to 179 riders. Two riders — Mark Cavendish of Dimension Data and Rohan Dennis of BMC Racing Team — abandoned ahead of the mountain stage to begin their preparations for the Olympics. Meanwhile, two more riders were unable to finish the stage after getting wrapped up in a crash during the first kilometer of the stage. Borut Bozic of Cofidis-Solutions Credits and Gorka Izaguirre of Movistar Team both went down hard. Izaguirre, one of the solid support riders for Nairo Quintana, has landed on the cusp of the fulcrum twice this race but this time landed on his collarbone, putting him out of action. Bozic regained his bicycle but took a second fall and had to abandon.

The winner of Stage 17 was Ilnur Zakarin of Team Katusha. Chris Froome of Sky remains the overall leader, and Sam Bennett of Bora-Argon 18 remains the Lanterne Rouge.

July 7, 2016

Tour de France Remains in les Cuspides

Grégory Rast

Gorka Izaguirre

Amazingly, all 198 riders who started the 2016 Tour de France are still in the race after Stage 6. A few are banged and bruised, but no one has decamped to recuperate for the Olympics.

With an even number of riders, the tour remains in les Cuspides. No Point d’Appui. No fulcrum.

But we do have two veterans who finished on the cusp: Gorka Izaguirre of Movistar Team and Grégory Rast of Trek-Segafredo. Izaguirre was on the cusp after Stage 2, and Rast slipped into the cusp on Stage 5, holding steady after Stage 6.

Mark Cavendish won the bunch sprint into Montauban. Greg Van Avermaet of BMC Racing Team remains in the yellow jersey, and Michael Morkov continues to hold the Lanterne Rouge.

July 3, 2016

Kiryienka on Cusp of Fulcrum After TDF Stage 2

Vasil Kiryienka

All 198 riders came home on a wet and winding Stage 2 of the 2016 Tour de France. Gorka Izagirre of Movistar Team and Vasil Kiryienka of Team Sky moved into 99th and 100th places, respectively, for general classification and hold les Cuspides.

Kiryienka is a perennial favorite for the Point d’Appui, riding out front in support of Sky team leader Chris Froome for most of the day and then falling back through the standings after his work is done. Along with winning the Point d’Appui in the 2012 Tour de France, Kiryienka finished two stages of the 2014 Tour on les Cuspides and in 2013 finished the Vuelta a España on les Cuspides. He was on pace to do well in the 2013 edition of le Tour before missing a time cutoff.

Kiryienka would be the odds-on favorite to win this year’s Point d’Appuit barring similar disaster, but Markel Irizar of Trek-Segafredo is only five spots off the middle and Paolo Trialongo of Astana Pro is only six away.

Gorka Izagirre and his brother, Jon, ride in support of GC contender Nairo Quintana. During the 2015 Tour de France, their team placed first in the team competition. Jon held the Point d’Appui after Stage 2 of the 2013 Paris-Nice race. Gorka finished 5th overall in this year’s Tour of Dubai, so he has some fire power that might lead him higher in this year’s standings.

Peter Sagan of Tinkoff won Stage 2 and also took on the mantle of the yellow jersey, the first time he has been race leader and the first time since 2013 that he won a stage of the Tour de France. Sam Bennett of Bora-Argon 18, injured during a fall in Stage 1, dropped into the Lanterne Rouge but survived the time cut-off.

The rolling terrain of the 183-kilometer stage between the start at Saint-Lô and strongly uphill finish at Cherbourg played well to the puncheurs, among them Sagan.

The two riders on les Cuspides after Stage 1 — Simon Geschk of Team Giant-Alpecin and Emanuel Buchmann of Bora-Argon 18 — both finished well on Stage 2 and moved up in the standings.

March 7, 2013

Another Abandon Leaves Paris-Nice on Cuspides After Stage 3

Mattia Cattaneo of Lampre-Merida and Kanstantsin Siutsou of Sky Procycling share les Cuspides of the fulcrum at the end of Stage 3 of the Paris-Nice spring classic. José Ivan Gutierrez of Movistar did not start the third stage, bringing the number of surviving riders in the race to an even 178.

Cattaneo is 3 minutes 14 seconds behind the latest leader of the race, the American Andrew Talansky of Garmin Sharp, and more than 17 minutes ahead of the new Lanterne Rouge, Yann Huguet of Team Argos-Shimano. Huguet, as you will recall, had the median time after the Prologue.

On the stage, Ruben Plaza of Movistar and Gustav Larsson of IAM Cycling finished on the cusp. And our Stage 1 Point d’Appui, Jerome Cousin, brought up the rear of Stage 3.

The Stage 2 Point d’Appui, Jon Izagirre has moved up in the standings to 41st, and his brother Gorka contested for the stage win.