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

Gilbert Edges Pauriol Out for Point d’Appui

Philippe Gilbert of BMC can add another feather to his cap after finishing on the fulcrum during Stage 3 of the Vuelta a España to gain the general classification Point d’Appui. Gilbert was the Belgian road race and time trial champion in 2011 and won quite a few races, and wore the yellow jersey in the 2011 Tour de France after winning the first stage. This year, the honors have been much more modest, and so it should come as little surprise that he has landed in the middle.

He finished six minutes and three seconds after the race leader, Alejandro Valverde of Movistar, and 21 minutes and 21 seconds ahead of David Boucher, who despite gaining good time overall was still in overall last place after Stage 3.

The Point d’Appui for the stage went to Kevin De Weert, another Belgian riding for Omega Pharma-Quickstep.

Rémi Pauriol, who held the Point d’Appui after Stage 2, gained 27 spots on the pack. Markel Irizar, whom we had pegged as a potential winner of the maillot gris by the end of the Vuelta, moved only a few spots up, despite getting into the eight-man break.