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.

August 24, 2014

Ivan Basso Wins Point d’Appui in 2014 USA Pro Challenge

Ivan Basso

Ivan Basso of Cannondale finished 58th in the USA Pro Challenge to win the 2014 Point d’Appui. The race had been in les Cuspides after Stage 6, but three riders did not finish the final stage, Stage 7, putting the race back on fulcrum.

American Tejay van Garderen of BMC won the race for the second year. Aaron Perry of Team Novo Nordisk finished in 115th as the Lanterne Rouge.

Other finishers on the week of racing:

Stage 1 – No fulcrum
Stage 2 – Daniel Summerhill of UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
Stage 3 – Joseph Lewis of Hincapie Sportswear Development
Stage 4 – No fulcrum
Stage 5 – No fulcrum
Stage 6 – No fulcrum
Stage 7 – Ivan Basso

March 10, 2013

Field Narrows; Kruijswijk Holds Fulcrum Going into Finale

Steven Kruijswijk

After 14 abandons during Stage 6 of the 2013 Paris-Nice spring classic, Steven Kruijswijk of the Blanco Pro Cycling Team found himself at the center of the overall race, the Point d’Appui, going into the final stage.

Kruijswijk is 33 minutes and 27 seconds behind race leader Richie Porte and 46 minutes and change ahead of Blanco teammate, Rick Flens, the latest Lanterne Rouge.

Surrounding Kruijswijk are notable contenders: Vasil Kiryienka, the Point d’Appui of the 2012 Tour de France, is just a place ahead, and Remi Pauriol, who held the Point d’Appui after Stage 2 of the 2012 Vuelta, is one second behind Kruijswijk.

Kruijswijk, who took a tumble earlier in the Paris-Nice race, saw some success in 2011 while riding under the RaboBank colors, reaching the podium of the Tour de Suisse as the third-place finisher. He also finished eighth at the Giro d’Italia. During Paris-Nice, he has been riding in support of teammate Robert Gesink, but Gesink bowed out of Paris-Nice before the end of Stage 6 along with two other Blanco riders, Mark Renshaw and Wilco Kelderman. This leaves Kruijswijk as the team leader for Blanco.

The rider with the time closest to median time for the overall race is once again Mattia Cattaneo of Lampre-Merida. Cattaneo held the median time after Stage 4 as well and also was on the cusp of the fulcrum after Stage 3.

On the stage, Ivan Basso of Cannondale finished at the fulcrum.