Tiago Machado

The rain-soaked time trial of Stage 1 of the 2017 Tour de France brought down two experienced riders, leaving an even number to struggle home.

On the cusps of the fulcrum are Tiago Machado of Katusha-Alpecin and Jan Bakelants of AG2R La Mondiale. Bakelants has finished as the Point d’Appui on two Tour stages before, once in 2012 and once last year, although he hasn’t ever held the GC Point d’Appui.

Alejandro Valverde of Movistar was seriously injured and went to hospital after hitting the deck hard and slamming into the barriers. Spaniard Ion Izagirre of Bahrain-Merida was also among the many crash victim and like Valverde abandoned the race.

Geraint Thomas of Team Sky won Stage 1 and is the holder of the first yellow jersey of the Tour de France, much to his own surprise. Teammate Vasili Kiryienka, winner of the 2012 GC Point d’Appui, finished third in Saturday’s time trial.

Tony Gallopin of Lotto Soudal also took a fall and limped 3 minutes and 3 seconds adrift to take hold of the Lanterne Rouge.

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

Two Abandons, Two on Cusps of Stage 1

Boswell Wins Point d’Appui in 2016 Vuelta