July 7, 2016

Cheers to First, Last and Middle of Stage 5

Grégory Rast

Wouter Poels

Cheers to the riders on the front end of the tour and the tail end. Greg Van Avermaet of BMC got into the break, stole away from the break with two others and then ran away from in the final climbs to win Stage 5 of the 2016 Tour de France and don the Maillot Jaune.

On the other end of the train, Michael Morkov of Team Katusha, who crashed hard on Stage 1, struggled home on his own, five minutes adrift of the next nearest rider. Courage.

All 198 riders came home safely, so the race remains without a Point d’Appui. The mountains threw the order into the jackstraws. The two new riders on the cusp of the fulcrum are Wouter Poels of Team Sky at 99th and Grégory Rast of Trek-Segafredo. Poels held the GC Point d’Appui on Stages 12 and 13 of the 2015 Tour de France. It’s Rast’s first time to sit in the middle.

The climbs into the Massif Centrale broke the peloton into splinters, spreading them over a 33-minute timeframe. The rider with the time closest to the mean average time is Daniel Teklehaimanot of Dimension Data. He’s at 35 minutes and 12 seconds behind the leader, and Morkov is 1 hour, 10 minutes and 25 seconds behind Avermaet.

July 27, 2015

2015 Tour de France Ends Without Fulcrum; Martens, Perichon on Cusps

An even number of riders finished the 2015 Tour de France on the streets of Paris, so a Point d’Appui can’t be awarded this year. Because of the rain and a likely heightened danger if the entire peloton charged the oily cobbles of the Champs, race officials declared all riders to have the same time for the day, meaning that the two riders on the cusp of the fulcrum after Stage 20 retained their position.

Paul Martens of Team LottoNL-Jumbo and Pierre-Luc Perichon of Bretagne-Séché Environnement are Les Cuspides for the 2015 Tour.

The leader of the race, Christopher Froome of Sky, and the last rider in, Sébastien Chavanel of FDJ, remained in their respective positions as well. Sylvain Chavanel of IAM Cycling, possibly riding his last tour, had the time closest to the median of all racers.

Twelve riders held the Point d’Appui during the course of the race, an average number for the Tour.

The stage-by-stage general classification:

Stage 1 – No fulcrum.
Stage 2 – No fulcrum.
Stage 3 – No fulcrum.
Stage 4 – Adriano Malori of Movistar.
Stage 5 – Armindo Fonseca of Bretagne-Séché Environnement.
Stage 6 – No fulcrum.
Stage 7 – No fulcrum.
Stage 8 – Haimar Zubeldia of Trek Factory Racing.
Stage 9 – Serge Pauwels of MTN-Qhubeka
Stage 10 – Daniele Bennati of Tinkoff-Saxo, who took a hard fall the next day and had to abandon.
Stage 11 – Rohan Dennis of BMC.
Stage 12 – Wouter Poels of Team Sky.
Stage 13 – Wouter Poels of Team Sky.
Stage 14 – No fulcrum.
Stage 15 – Angelo Tulik of Team Europcar.
Stage 16 – Paul Voss of Bora-Argon 18.
Stage 17 – Brice Feillu of Bretagne-Séché Environnement.
Stage 18 – Perrig Quemeneur of Team Europcar.
Stage 19 – No fulcrum.
Stage 20 – No fulcrum.
Stage 21 – No fulcrum.

July 18, 2015

Poels Holds Point d’Appui for Second Day

Wouter Poels of Team Sky retained the Maillot Gris for the second day in a row, despite finishing 101st on the stage. We’re not sure how that math works to allow that, whether the overall time changes were small enough or balanced enough, Woot holds onto the Point d’Appui after Stage 13.

Other competitors near the middle include Markel Irizar of Trek Factory Racing, who won the 2011 Tour Point d’Appui, and Rohan Dennis of BMC Racing Team, who held the fulcrum after Stage 11.

On the other hand, the Lanterne Rouge since Stage 4, Michael Matthews of Orica GreenEdge, finished 17th on the stage and gained two places, handing last place to Sam Bennett of Bora-Argon 18.

Chris Froome still holds the yellow jersey, close behind the top finishers at Rodez.

July 16, 2015

Poels Climbs into Point d’Appui atop Plateau de Beille

Wouter Poels

Another day in the Pyrenees led to a new Point d’Appui on Stage 12 of the 2015 Tour de France. The fulcrum after Stage 11, Rohan Dennis, dropped back one place and Wouter Poels of Team Sky moved up to the middle.

Poels joined Team Sky at the beginning of January and picked up his first stage win for the team in March racing in the Tirreno–Adriatico, where finished 7th overall, leading the team after Chris Froome withdrew. During the Tour de France, as you might imagine, Poels has been riding tempo with Richie Porte and Geraint Thomas in support of Froome.

Chris Froome of Sky retains the yellow jersey, despite a plethora of attacks from other GC leaders. Meanwhile, Michael Matthews of Orica GreenEdge still holds the Lanterne Rouge.

Zakkari Dempster of Bora-Argon 18 and Alex Dowsett of Movistar Team had to abandon, leaving the peloton with 175 riders to come home atop the Plateau de Beille.