Lieuwe Westra

July 26, 2014

Westra, Kiryienka on Cuspides after Stage 19

The relatively flat Stage 19 produced only minor changes in the 2014 Tour de France, still without a fulcrum heading into Saturday’s time trial.

Lieuwe Westra of Astana Pro Team and Vasili Kiryienka of Team Sky are les Cuspides for the moment, although the time trial is likely to shake up the field a bit tomorrow.

A crash during Stage 19 did not put anyone out of the race, so all 164 racers who started the day came home. Last year’s race had an even number of riders as the peloton began its final ride into Paris, but an abandon by Westra allowed an odd number of racers to finish and a chance for the Point d’Appui to be awarded. We love awarding the Point d’Appui each year but hope all survive this year.

On the day, Ramunas Navardauskas of Garmin-Sharp won Stage 19, gaining enough time on the last climb to solo into Bergerac 23 seconds ahead of an unwieldy peloton and avenging the dashed hopes of teammate Jack Bauer, who fought unsuccessfully for a similar win on Stage 15 but was reeled in at the last moment.

Vincenzo Nibali and Cheng Ji still hold the Maillot Jaune and the Lanterne Rouge, respectively. Matteo Montaguti of AG2R La Mondiale currently has the time nearest the race median of 2 hours, 31 minutes, and 35 seconds.
median

March 3, 2013

Cofidis Teammates on Cuspides for Paris-Nice Prologue

A pair of Cofidis riders, Jerome Coppel and Rein Taaramae, have taken the Cuspides on the Prologue of the Paris-Nice stage race, the unofficial start of the 2013 racing season.

It took less than five minutes for even the slowest rider, Andreas Klier of Garmin Sharp, to finish the 2.9 kilometer Prologue in the Paris suburb of Houilles. All 184 riders came home safely, so there is no Point d’Appui to be awarded on the Prologue. Coppel and Taaramae were both 13 seconds adrift.

Damien Gaudin of Europcar won the Prologue, narrowly edging out Sylvain Chavanel of Omega Pharma-Quickstep and Lieuwe Westra of Vacansoleil-DMC. The Prologue win was unexpected for the Europcar Team, or at least anyone following Europcar. Chris Fontecchio over at Podiumcafe picked Europcar as the team whose ambition at Paris-Nice might be to “get noticed on camera at some point.” Gaudin has a string of first place finishes in the French national track championships, but this his first top finish in a stage race, albeit a Prologue that on paper looks more like a track race than a stage race.

A Frenchman, Yann Huguet of Team Argos-Shimano, had the median time of the day with right at 25 seconds.

Monday’s stage, 195 kilometers from Saint-Germain-en-Laye to Nemours, will be a romp for the sprinters. With only three seconds separating the middle 20 percent of the racers, anyone might slip into the fulcrum position by the end of the day.