Thomas De Gendt

Toms Skujiņš of Trek-Segafredo won the Point d’Appui on the ride into Paris during the final stage of the 2021 Tour de France. The race had been without a fulcrum for four stages, but the abandonment of the race by Jakob Fuglsang of Astana-Premier Tech before the start of Stage 21 left 141 riders to come home in Paris.

The grey jersey changed hands 13 times during the race, with two riders — Omar Fraile Matarranz and Rui Costa — holding the Point d’Appui after two separate stages each.

Skujiņš, 30, has raced in the Tour de France since 2018, holding the polka dot jersey for five stages during the 2018 edition and being awarded the combativity award on Stage 5 of both the 2018 and 2019 editions. He finished in 81 or 82 in previous tours and finished at 71st place this year. Skujiņš held the Point d’Appui briefly during the 2019 Tour de France when he landed at the middle of the peloton at the end of Stage 19.

Trek-Segafredo’s support of GC leader Vicenzo Nibali lasted until the second rest day, at which point Nibali abandoned to begin preparation for the Tokyo Olympics. Skujiņš made the best of the tour by jumping into several breaks on the latter stages.

The winner of the three-week race was the Slovenian incumbent, Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates, who had a comfortable lead over other competitors since midway through the race, having won four stages of his own. As in the 2020 Tour de France, Pogacar also won the white jersey for best young rider and the polka dot jersey for best mountain climber of the tour.

The Lantern Rouge went to Tim Declercq of Deceuninck-QuickStep, who finished nearly 5 hours behind the leader, Pogacar. The team title went to Bahrain Victorious, which incurred a hotel raid by French police after Stage 17 looking for evidence of doping.

Highlights of the tour include:

The across-the-board range of Wout van Aert, the Belgian rider for Jumbo-Visma who won a flat stage, a mountain stage, the Stage 20 time trial and then the sprint finish on the next day’s final stage on the Champs-Élysees of Paris.
The return of Mark Cavendish of Deceunink-QuickStep to the sprints winning the green jersey and five stages, bringing his career total to 34 and tying the career record stage wins of Eddy Merckz. Despite
The top-25 finish of the oldest rider in the peloton this year Alejandro Valverde of Movistar Team, who won his first stage of the Tour de France in 2005 during his first appearance in the tour.
A strong showing and win on Stage 15 from the top American in the race, Sepp Kuss of Jumbo-Visma, during his first time in the tour.

The Point d’Appui through the stages:

Stage 1 — Jelle Wallays of Cofidis
Stage 2 — No fulcrum
Stage 3 — Michael Woods of Start-up Nation
Stage 4 — Omar Fraile Matarranz of Astana-Premier Tech
Stage 5 — Rui Costa of UAE Team Emirates
Stage 6 — Omar Fraile Matarranz of Astana-Premier Tech
Stage 7 — Michael Schär of AG2R Citroën Team
Stage 8 — Warren Barguil of Team Arkea-Samsic
Stage 9 — Thomas De Gendt of Lotto Soudal
Stage 10 — No fulcrum
Stage 11 — No fulcrum
Stage 12 — Connor Swift of Team Arkea-Samsic
Stage 13 — Benoit Cosnefroy of AG2R Citroën Team
Stage 14 — Tao Geoghegan Hart of Ineos Grenadiers
Stage 15 — Lorenzo Rota of Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
Stage 16 — Rui Costa of UAE Team Emirates
Stage 17 — No fulcrum
Stage 18 — No fulcrum
Stage 19 — No fulcrum
Stage 20 — No fulcrum
Stage 21 — Toms Skujiņš of Trek-Segafredo

Ian Boswell of Teamy Sky

American Ian Boswell of Team Sky won the Point d’Appui for the 2016 Vuelta a Espana, finishing 80th among the surviving 159 riders in the race.

Boswell’s placement had been 20 places above the fulcrum until Stage 16 when he finished dead last on the stage, which dropped in the overall standings closer to the middle of the pack. His former teammate, Joe Dombrowski, whom he had helped win the amateur Giro d’Italia back in 2012, held the GC Point d’Appui on Stage 17 and 18. Both Boswell and Dombrowski finished at the tail end of Stage 19, Drombowski slipping out of the fulcrum and Boswell slipping in.

He finished third on Stage 7 of last year’s Vuelta and seventh overall in the 2015 Tour of California. Back in 2012 when he was riding for Trek-Livestrong, he finished second in the Under-23 Baston-Liege-Baston race. But now he’s a workhorse for Team Sky, riding in support of Christopher Froome.

Asked what cycling has taught him, Boswell said, “You can get to where you want to get if you work at it. There’s more ups and downs in cycling than many other sports. It teaches you to be resilient.”

Nairo Quintana won the 2016 Vuelta, and Nikias Arndt of Team Giant-Alpecin was the Lanterne Rouge, some 5 hours adrift.

Zdenek Stybar of Etixx-Quick-Step had the time closest to the median time.

The general classification Point d’Appui after each stage:

Stage 1 – No fulcrum
Stage 2 – No fulcrum
Stage 3 – Rudiger Selig of Bora-Argon 18
Stage 4 – Silvio Herklotz of Bora-Argon 18
Stage 5 – No fulcrum
Stage 6 – No fulcrum
Stage 7 – No fulcrum
Stage 8 – No fulcrum
Stage 9 – No fulcrum
Stage 10 – Julien Bernard of Trek-Segafredo
Stage 11 – No fulcrum
Stage 12 – Thomas De Gendt of Lotto Soudal
Stage 13 – No fulcrum
Stage 14 – Tiago Machado of Team Katusha
Stage 15 – No fulcrum
Stage 16 – No fulcrum
Stage 17 – Joe Dombrowski of Cannondale-Drapac
Stage 18 – Joe Dombrowski of Cannondale-Drapac
Stage 19 – Ian Boswell of Team Sky
Stage 20 – Ian Boswell of Team Sky
Stage 21 – Ian Boswell of Team Sky

Point d'Appui

Latvian Skujiņš Wins 2021 Tour de France Point d’Appui

Boswell Wins Point d’Appui in 2016 Vuelta