June 27, 2021

Van der Poel Skips Ahead to Yellow Jersey; Midpoint Falls Into Les Cuspides

Only 180 riders started Stage 2 of the 2021 Tour de France, after Marc Soler of Movistar Team was unable to continue in the race. All 180 came safely home after two ascents of Mur-de-Bretagne, a steep but relatively short climb that Mathieu van der Poel owned.

With an even number of riders, there was no Point d’Appui awarded for Stage 2. Julien Simon of TotalEnergies in 90th place and Connor Swift (GBr) Team Arkea-Samsic shared les cuspides on the stage. Simon shared les Cuspides on Stage 3 of the 2018 Tour de France as well.

Tony Martin of Jumbo-Visma and Amund Grøndahl Jansen of Team BikeExchange shared the Lanterne Rouge with a time of 29 minutes and 46 seconds behind the leader, van der Poel, who due to time bonuses was able leap past Julian Alaphilippe and pull on the yellow jersey.

July 10, 2018

Naesen Becomes First Point d’Appui of 2018 Tour

Oliver Naesen of AG2R La Mondiale finished in 87th position on the general classification of Stage 4 of the 2018 Tour de France to gain the fulcrum for the first time in the race.

The 2017 Belgian National Champion in the road race, Naesen is racing in his third Tour de France. He finished 83 and 63 in 2016 and 2017, respectively. He had top 10 finishes in a dozen European road races, primarily classics.

Greg Van Avermaet of BMC Racing Team holds the yellow jersey, and Lawson Craddock EF-Drapac continues as the Lanterne Rouge, although he looks better each day.

Stage 2 and 3 of Tour de France continued in the cusps with an even number of riders finishing. Teammates Kristijan Durasek and Darwin Atapuma, both of UAE Team Emirates, finished 87th and 88th on Stage 2 to earn distinction as Les Cuspides.

The team time trials on Stage 3 reordered the peloton, and Guillaume Martin of Wanty-Groupe Gobert and Julien Simon of Cofidis, Solutions Credits wound up on the cusps of the fulcrum.

July 10, 2015

High and Lows in Stage 6: Martin Abandons; Teklehaimanot Grabs Polka Dot

The Tour de France returned to Les Cuspides on Stage 6. Julien Simon of Cofidis and Damien Gaudin of AG2R La Mondiale shared placement on the cusp of the fulcrum.

The crash of tour leader Tony Martin and the subsequent announcement that he would abandon due to a broken collarbone made the stage win by teammate Zdenek Stybar a pyrrhic victory.

On the other hand, the work done by Daniel Teklehaimanot of MTN-Qhubeka to pick up the 3 mountain-climber points available on the course of Stage 6 meant that he is the first Eritrean and, in fact, the first African to stand on the Tour de France podium. He won the mountain jersey in this year’s Critérium du Dauphiné.

Also, Armindo Fonseca, who held the Point d’Appui after Stage 5, finished strongly on Stage 6, attaining 14th place in the sprint finish.

The yellow jersey was still held by Martin at the end of the stage, although it , and Michael Matthews remains the Lanterne Rouge.

July 12, 2014

Stage 7 Slips Back into les Cuspides

Three abandons due to crashes on Stage 7 put the 2014 Tour de France off the fulcrum again. Finishing at the middle of the 186 survivors were Bartosz Huzarski of Team Netapp-Endura in 93rd place and Julien Simon of Cofidis in 94th place.

The route, the second-longest of this year’s tour, ran from Epernay to Nancy, relatively level except that there were a couple Category 4 climbs near the end of the day that cut most sprinters out of contention for the final run into Nancy. Not so Peter Sagan, whose Cannondale teammates put pressure on the front of the peloton to give him a better shot at the stage win. It was not to be. By the width of your pinkie, Matteo Trentin of Omega Pharma-Quick Step took the stage on the line, leaving Sagan holding nothing but the green jersey.

No one quite expected the heavy toll of crashes on these dry roads after two days of rain, one of them on cobbles. Stef Clement went out in the first hour of the ride after a crash left him unable to get to his feet. Danny Van Popple, the youngest rider in the tour, abandoned due to knee pain.

Both top Americans, Tejay van Garderen and Andrew Talansky, suffered crashes in the latter part of the race, but both were able to finish the stage. In van Garderen’s crash, his teammate Darwin Atapuma also went down and had to abandon. Talansky sits at 2 minutes behind tour leader Vincenzo Nibali. Van Garderen is 3 minutes off the leader’s pace.

At the back end of the peloton, American Edward “Ted” King of Cannondale slipped behind Cheng Ji of Team Giant-Shimano to take the handle of the Lanterne Rouge, the rider in last place