2020 Tour Finishes Without a Fulcrum

After the fireworks of Stage 20 in the 2020 Tour de France, it will come as no surprise that the middle of the peloton was shaken a bit, too, on the final day, although no Point d’Appui could be awarded since an even number of riders came home on the Champs-Élysées.

Finishing on les Cuspides of the Point d’Appui were Michael Valgren of NTT Pro Cycling finishing 73rd and Imanol Erviti of Movistar Team finishing 74th. Neither of them had been on the cusps after Stage 20. Valgren, who finished last on the final stage, fell back four spots, and Erviti gained rose one placement. Both Valgren and Erviti have found themselves on the cusp at the end of various stages of previous tours, but this is their first time to arrive in Paris at the middle of the peloton.

Stage 20 turned the rest of the tour upside down when Tadej Pogačar destroyed the field on the time trial climb to La Planche des Belles Filles, moving ahead of fellow Slovenian Primož Roglič by nearly a minute to take the yellow jersey for the first time in the race. Pogačar also picked up the polka dot jersey as best mountain climber and the white jersey for the best young rider. Pogačar is the youngest rider to win the Tour de France since 1904 and the youngest rider ever to win the polka dot jersey.

Sam Bennett of Deceuninck-Quickstep won the green jersey for best sprinter, punctuating the win by also winning the bunch spring of Stage 21 in Paris. Marc Hirschi of Team Sunweb won the most-combative rider award.

Movistar Team won the team championship with a team time more than 18 minutes quicker than runner-up Team Jumbo-Visma.

Roger Kluge of Lotto Soudal was the Lanterne Rouge. Kluge fell into last place on the mountainous Stage 16 after dropping back to help pace teammate Caleb Ewan through the climbs and keep Ewan in contention for sprint stages.

Only six stages ended with an odd number of riders in the race. The leaders in the Point d’Appui at the end of each stage:

  • Stage 1 — Krists Neilands of Israel Start-Up Nation
  • Stage 2 — Dayer Quintana of Team Arkea-Samsic
  • Stage 3 — No fulcrum
  • Stage 4 — No fulcrum
  • Stage 5 — No fulcrum
  • Stage 6 — No fulcrum
  • Stage 7 — No fulcrum
  • Stage 8 — No fulcrum
  • Stage 9 — No fulcrum
  • Stage 10 — No fulcrum
  • Stage 11 — Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
  • Stage 12 — No fulcrum
  • Stage 13 — Michael Schär of CCC Team
  • Stage 14 — Nans Peters of AG2R la Mondiale
  • Stage 15 — No fulcrum
  • Stage 16 — No fulcrum
  • Stage 17 — No fulcrum
  • Stage 18 — Andrey Amador of Ineos Grenadiers
  • Stage 19 — No fulcrum
  • Stage 20 — No fulcrum
  • Stage 21 — No fulcrum

The winner of the 2019 Tour de France Point d’Appui, Élie Gesbert of Arkéa–Samsic, was unable to defend his title in the Tour de France this year. He suffered a fractured kneecap at Challenge Mallorca in February and is still recovering. Winners of the Point D’Appui in other recent major races finished in the following placements:

  • 2018 Tour de France — Nikias Arndt of Team Sunweb finished 126th.
  • 2019 Paris-Nice — Tim Declercq of Deceuninck-Quickstep finished 127th.
  • 2020 Milan-San Remo — Felix Grossschartner of Bora-Hansgrohe finished 63rd.
  • 2017 Milan-San Remo — Luke Rowe of Ineos Grenadiers finished 129th.

Crashes Plague Opening Stage of the 2020 Tour de France, Neilands at Middle

Rain, narrow roads and first-day jitters stretched the peloton frequently after several crashes during Stage 1 of the 2020 Tour de France, the result being our first Point d’Appuit of the race: Krists Neilands of Israel Start-Up Nation.

2019 was an impressive year for Neilands, who won the Latvian National Road Championships, the general classification for Tour de Hongrie and the Grand Prix de Wallonie. He looked quite strong during the first three stages of Paris-Nice during March. He rides in support of team leader Dan Martin.

The winner of the overall 2019 Point d’Appui, Élie Gesbert of Arkéa–Samsic, is notable to defend his title in the Tour de France this year. He suffered a fractured kneecap at Challenge Mallorca in February. Good wishes for his continued return to racing.

Stage 1 started in Nice and followed loops that took riders over the Aspremont three times before ending in a wild sprint finish in Nice as well. Alexander Kristoff won the stage over the 176-rider field with a strong push during the bunch sprint along the long straight-away.

A crash just after the 3-kilometer flag winnowed the field, but the 3K rule allowed the fallen to collect the same time as the leading riders. John Degenkolb of Lotto Soudal finished outside the time limit, so only 175 riders were scored.

Michael Schär of CCC Team, part of the three-person break, scored enough points on the two trips over the Class 3 Ĉote de Rimiez to win the polka dot jersey on the stage. The peloton caught the break with about 35 miles left on the day.

Rafael Valls Ferri of Bahrain McLaren is the Lanterne Rouge.