All 198 riders came home through Stage 2 of the 2014 Vuelta a España, leaving the race without a fulcrum. Elia Favilli of Lampre-Merida and David Arroyo of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA were on the cusp of the fulcrum after the stage, finishing 99th and 100th, respectively.
Stef Clement of Belkin Pro Cycling Team is the current Lanterne Rouge, finishing more than five and a half minutes behind race leader Alejandro Valverde of Movistar Team.
Arnaud Courteille
Arnaud Courteille of FDJ-Big Mat is the new Point d’Appui after Wednesday’s time trial, Stage 11 of the Vuelta a España. He pushed out Grégory Rast, who held the Point d’Appui after Stage 10, after both riders fell two places in the general classification standings.
Markel Irizar, who won the 2011 Tour de France Point d’Appui, is only one spot out of the fulcrum and must be considered a contender for the Vuelta’s chemise grise.
The Vuelta a España began Saturday with a team time trial. With 22 teams finishing and 198 riders coming home, there was no Point d’Appui on the day. The teams Astana and AG2R la Mondiale finished 10th and 11th, respectively, to settle in as les Cuspides on the opening day.
David Boucher
Rémi Pauriol
Two members of FDJ-Bigmat — Rémi Pauriol and David Boucher — finished as the individual les Cuspides, 57 seconds behind leader Jonathan Castroviejo of Movistar. They finished more than 8 minutes ahead of Enrico Gasperotto of Astana, who finished as the Lanterne Rouge on the first day.
Using a team trial to start the Vuelta makes assessment of the fulcrum more difficult. Each team’s finish is a reflection of its team members’ ability to hang together and serve the weakest among themselves, the antithesis of most stage races, where the weakest protect the team leader for as long and as well as they can. Predicting the fulcrum for Sunday’s road stage is anything if not mediocre.
However, if we must guess, we would go with Team Radioshack’s Markel Irizar, who won the Point d’Appui in the 2011 Tour de France as well as one stage in the 2011 Vuelta, was only three places off the fulcrum. Radioshack appears to be setting him up for another run at the overall Point d’Appui in the Vuelta this year.
CyclingNews quotes Irizar thusly about the likely ease but possible difficulty of Stage 2: “I know this area well and it can be windy around. This should be one of the easiest stages but it depends where the finish is exactly. Often races finish on a short, 800m hill in Viana. It could complicate things for the sprinters.”
The defending champion of the Point d’Appui for the 2011 Vuelta, Lloyd Mondory of AG2R la Mondiale, finished in 130th place.
French racer Lloyd Mondory of AG2R-La Mondiale is the Point d’Appui of the 2011 La Vuelta a España, finishing 84th in a field of 187. He came home 2:46:03 behind the winner, Juan José Cobo of Geox-TMC.
Mondory sneaked into the fulcrum position during Stage 19, was edged out by 7 seconds during the next stage but clawed back into the point d’appui during the final stage.
Starting with 198 riders, the field only lost 11 riders over the course of its 21 stages. Below are the riders who sat in the point d’appui general classification at the end of each stage.
Point d'Appui 