The Point d’Appui of Stage 4, Aliaksandr Kuchynski, is seen in the red jersey amid the riders of the peloton.

Aliaksandr Kuchynski

The Tour de France has its first Point d’Appui of the race: Russian Aliaksandr Kuchynski of Katusha, who nibbled on the fulcrum during Stage 3, edged out his co-cuspide Rubén Perez to take the first Point d’Appui of 2012. Kuchynski is 7:22 behind race leader Fabian Cancellara and 28:01 ahead of Brice Feillu, the Lanterne Rouge.

Finishing at the Point d’Appui on the stage is Arthur Vichot of FDJ-Bigmat. Yaraslov Popovych of Radioshack-Nissan,who was a workhorse on the front end of the peloton for most of the day, finished just behind Vichot.

Coincidentally, Popovych and Kuchynski finished the 2010 Tour de France as Les Cuspides, an even number of riders finishing that year. Popovych may have had a hand in slowing down Team Katusha and keeping Kuchynski in the overall Point d’Appui today. Team Katusha came to the front of the peloton to press the pace as the peloton hit a waterspout. Coming out of the next roundabout, Popovych seemed to have stern words for the Katusha riders and their seeming lack of concern for the safety of the peloton.

Safety will get you to the Point d’Appui, though, and Popovych himself is only four spots out.

Notes about Stage 4:

• Europcar’s Yukiya Arashiro, who was one of the Stage 1 Les Cuspides, stayed in the break from the start of Stage 4 and was voted most aggressive rider on the stage. Arashiro is now up at 53rd place.
• Maarten Tjallingii of Rabobank finished Stage 3 after a crash. He abandoned the race before Stage 4 once his injury was diagnosed as a fractured hip. His loss left 195 riders to finish the day, and all came home.