Tour de France Green Jersey Contenders

52 thoughts on “Tour de France Green Jersey Contenders”

1. Are we sure Matthews will have help? I recall a recent interview somewhere with Sunweb bosses saying that they were there for GC reconnaissance and it was all about shepherding Dumoulin and that Matthews would have to fight for his own scraps when TD was safely inside 3kms to go.

   • Matthews is not defending his green jersey according to Sadhbh O’Shea today who claims to have spoken to him. Stage-hunting not jersey-hunting.

2. Inrng, minor typo: “write him off” (Cavendish) rather than “write him”. I don’t think he’d reply!

   Excellent article, as usual.

   • Fixed, thanks.

     Since it’s almost Tour time and there are usually new readers: corrections and suggestions are always welcome, not awkward. It’d be ideal to be error free but often things get typed too fast, there’s no editor etc. Think of it as helping the next reader.

     • ” Marcel Kittel took four stage wins last year”
       Five stages (stages 2, 6, 7, 10 and 11 ).

     • If only all bloggers were as mature and gracious…
       BTW, loved the “GIF that keeps on giving” line.

       • compare to cyclingnews where most articles are so riddled with typos, spelling, grammar errors, false statements etc that you’d never bother trying to correct them all! inrng does pretty well despite not having the backup of an editor and most of all provides actual insightful commentary as well as funny one-liners about GIFS and hats 🙂

         to any such new readers, stick around this is the best cycling site on the internet!

         • +1
           Well said!

3. If Gaviria is a possible Green Jersey points contender, perhaps Sagan will have to take on the full might of Quick Step even on his ‘get-out’ breakaway stages – imagine if he’s got Gilbert, Terpstra, Lampaert et al on his tail, or possibly a swathe of Quick Steppers? Nightmare.

   And, if the sprints could be shared round, could the ‘Sagan stages’ also – himself, Matthews, QS, etc?

   I thoroughly enjoyed the Points battle last year and this year’s promises to be even better.

   • That was my thought about QS too but not sure Fernando Gaviria is quite there yet as a contender. If he can do well in the bunch gallops then the rest of the team are more than capable of preventing Peter Sagan harvesting intermediate sprint points plus challenging him on the harder days. Given recent evidence and comments from Tom Steel perhaps that is more for next year.

4. Great preview as always!

   It’ll be fun to have almost all of the sprinters together for this Tour; should make for a very unpredictable battle for green, as they all seem pretty evenly matched.

   One rider not mentioned in the preview that I’m curious about is Jasper Stuyven. Anyone have any idea what his plans are? Somehow I doubt he’s content to play second fiddle to Degenkolb in the flat stages.

5. Fernando Gaviria won 2 stages of the T of California (1&5) ahead of Sagan who did not win a stage this season. One thing about Sagan is when that kind of thing happens He has often shown He gets smart next time and wins.

   Could be a Points Race to remember.

   • I’ve been thinking the same thing. Maybe I’m reading into it, but I sense that Sagan is really determined.

     • It is possible that by the first rest day, Sagan could be the holder of the Yellow, Green and Polka Dot Jerseys if he was his usual consistent self?

       • That would be extraordinary, and I have to think that even with time bonuses the BH team would have to do a very good TTT for Sagan to be in Yellow at that rest day. As for the Polka Dots, I suspect there will be some breakaway riders who will target that jersey during those early stages. Still, it’s possible, and would be very cool.

6. Probably worth adding the detail that Gaviria’s Giro successes were in 2017, not this year. I was trying to remember him winning 4 stages this year, but the picture gave it away as last.

7. 8 flat stages is too many, there should be 6 at the most. More hilly & rolling stages would be a better spectacle for the viewers.

8. No chain rings for Kittel? I’d have thought if he has a chance of picking up 4 stage wins this must put him in with a shout of the green jersey?

   I’m looking forward to a good points jersey competition, there seems a lot of sprinters this year so I can see Sagan muscled out of the top 5 on the flatter stages and the wins being shared about. There’s a lot of talk about Groenwegen but I”m not entirely convinced.

   I can see Cavendish getting a win or two, and I’ve just got a feeling he may pinch yellow on the opening stage.

   • He also needs to get to the finish!

9. “The GIF that keeps on giving” – man I do so love this site 🙂
   “Chateau!”, as UK Cycling Expert would no doubt say.
   Can’t wait for the weekend. This edition looks like it’s going to be VERY tough, and there’s interesting things happening every day. Perfect.

10. I think only Sagan and Matthews will go for it properly unless as you say a sprinter finds themself with a bunch of wins and in the mix inadvertently. I think Gaviria will be happy with a stage win or two in this company and although Matthews is a better climber than Sagan I think he’ll be in the bottom reaches of the top 10 on flat days against Sagan being in the top 3 or even winning. So Sagan should win again. I’d much rather see all GT points jerseys go back to equal weighting for every stage. You’d end up with far more possible winners and a battle on every stage. I’d also cut down the points at the intermediate sprints or have it as a separate competition altogether.

    • As I understand it, you’re only allowed to have 4 jerseys per grand tour. So which do you lose to facilitate an intermediate sprints jersey as well?

      • Not every competition needs a jersey (Giro is an example of probably over doing the number of competitions).

        You can do with a green helmet ; ) 😂

        Jokes aside, it will do nicely with a daily podium appearance and a green number card.

      • I wouldn’t be fussed if an intermediate sprints competition had no jersey, or if they got rid of that rule, or if the got rid of the ‘not so young riders’ jersey.

      • But why no one mentions just doing away with the 4 jersey limitation? Or at least question it?

11. Really, a red sprinter’s jersey in ’68? Because of the spirit of the times?

    • Well played, sir.

    • It was the perennial spirit of the times: the sponsor changed and the new sponsor wanted red.

12. “you might as well start marinating a hat” Nice.

13. The only way I see Sagan not winning this is if he’s ejected again, so I’m not expecting a lot of green drama. Hopefully the sprinters all hit a high note, as they’ve each had spells this year and the sprint stages are a slugfest. I’d also like to see Cav get a stage (and not crash).

14. I was under the impression that La Belle Jardiniere was a garden machinery manufacturer, Wikipedia and other sources state this, was it also a department store? Perhaps the wikipedia is an error that has been repeated to become internet ‘fact’. I like to think there was once a maillot vert model lawnmower being used at speed in the gardens of France….

    • If you like geen lawnmowers. You should see this movie “The straight story ” The guy is making a long trip on a very small John Deere Green lawnmower

      • I absolutely love that movie! cheers

    • It was a large department store in Paris selling clothes which branched out across France but closed down in the 1970s.

15. Awesome preview as ever! Want to buy some kit to say thankyou – will you be restocking the t shirt?

16. Griepel should have spent less time last year producing his Go Gorilla song and more time on focussing on winning races.

17. How many of the sprinters can actually finish this year? Stage 17 seems set for a huge GC battle that could lead to a major exodus via the time cut. Particularly after the rough second week has already taken its toll. Can Groenewegen and Gaviria survive that? We know Kittel is the first to fall and Cav will be holding on for dear life. Démare should survive, but I seriously see that stage being a bloodbath.

    • They’ve specifically eased the time cut for this stage, it’s 25% like a time trial stage. Indeed though this is a hard route for the sprinters, a lot of the climbs are steeper than usual.

    • One or two sprinters may be sent home in that stage, but I don’t think it’s realistic for four sprinters to drop out on one stage. If those four sprinters all end up outside the time cut then they won’t be alone, and although it may have happened before that many riders have been sent home on a single stage, it seems to me that it’s more common for (virtually) everyone to be pardoned in that case, especially if they come across the finish line in large groups.

18. It’s almost impossible to see beyond Sagan for Green given his record, strengths and abilities.

19. One more small typo….

    ….Colbrelli is getting better but the aim has to be a stage win, the same for EBH but what will the Norwegian do with Cavendish, if he he

    A double he he. Surprised that Demare is ranked quite low given his performance last year? I admit the FDJ team doesn’t look stellar!

20. I find it interesting there’s so much interest in the green jersey vs what seems so little in the polka-dot these daze. Wonder if that’s because too often the yellow jersey holder also has it or the guy in it is more of a climbing opportunist rather than a true king of the mountains? I seem to remember a time when the polka-dot was as big or a bigger deal than green.

    • I’ve wondered about that, too. I think it’s about the riders. Sagan is probably the most exciting rider of this time, and he’s going for green. Not so long ago, riders like Pantani were contesting for the polka dots. Also, the whole battle for the GC title has become so buttoned down, so that many of the best climbers are focused on the total time battle, and not getting to the top of the mountain first (unless it’s a mountain-top finish).

    • I’ve long wondered that too. Even when the likes of Chiappucci was getting on the podium it was still considered a big deal that he won the polka dots.
      I suppose it could be partly because the GC is now skewed more towards climbers so there is less of a contest that is only for the best climbers.
      A bump in prize money might help – although the green jersey still seems to have the status.
      I think some of that status has come from Sagan making the contest his own and just seeming so impressive an all-rounder. Prior to that, for a few years, had it seemed something a bonus prize for the sprinters?
      Certainly, there was a time when the jerseys were deemed more important than a stage win, but that focus seems to have changed considerably.

    • Is it because of the gradual shift in GC tactics, where the leaders wait until the last climb before making an attack, for fear of cracking on an early climb and losing too much time? So where previous years might have seen long range attacks from top GC riders, who would at least scoop up many KoM points if they failed, nowadays the field is left clear for the climbing opportunists to get all the mid-stage points, as you suggest.

      Having said that, in the villages along the route in the Alps and Pyrenees, the polka dots seem to be on display at least as often as the yellow. Perhaps because it’s more fun for kids to paint?

    • In my opinion it’s because the best climbers now contest the win. Back in the day you’re referring to there’d be 100km plus of time trials. Chiapucci, Virenque, Herrera et al had no choice but to aim for the polka dots. If that was the case now the likes of Quintana, Landa, Bardet etc would be in the lower half of the top 10 at best and taking aim at the polka dots for something to do whilst Dumoulin coasted to a win and Tony Martin desperately tried to cling on to a place on the podium!

      • I think where you have a situation where you can call up a doctor and ask him if you should chase a breakaway, and based on VAM, speed, distance etc. And they can call back and say the break is doomed then you’re not going to have as many romantic dashes by mountain climbers.
        I remember when you had the likes of Miller and Pantani that would make these drastic attacks.

        They might not win the stage, but they would win the hearts of the viewers and spectators. The maillot à pois was then their trophy. It’s changed because the Postal train started to mow them down, and the victors were never important riders. They never touched the GC with their rides.

        I suppose there is also the Tommy Voeckler effect. Never a great mountain climber he would end up with Polka-dots because he’d break away in the mountains win yellow and then be relegated to the mountains jersey. So it didn’t really feel like a real celebration of climbing.

21. Looks like a great line up – almost every big sprint name except Elia Viviani. Is Gaviria that much better/safer pick for some stage wins than Viviani that QS left him at home, could they have brought them both? or is there another reason for his absence that I have missed?
    Should be some great sprints, and a real competition for Green.

    • My assumption (and I think what the team said) is that Viviani got the Giro, and I assume may do the Vuelta. It also seems that having two designated sprinters may not be great for team chemistry. Finally, I think the potential of Gaviria is to be a truly dominant sprinter, in a way that I don’t think Viviani has been or could be.

    • I can’t think of any team that’s had two ‘sprinter’ who would expect a train working for them. The dynamics wouldn’t work and who would ride whose wheel.

      I must admit that I’m not entirely convinced by Gaviria over Viviani. Neither have been entirely dominant, but both have had some excellent results. Though perhaps I would fancy Gaviria to get over a mountain or two, whereas I think Viviani needs to train for mountains, at the expense of his speed. This certainly seemed the case at Sky, though they are not exactly the sprint train you’d want to ride behind.

      • Viviani has had time to be dominant (age 29), while Gaviria is still at an age where he’s learning the ins and out of World Tour positioning and gamesmanship (23). Gaviria appears to have the potential to be THE dominant sprinter in the coming years.

22. Uh Matthews only outfoxed Sagan with the help of 2-3 teammates back in 2016.

Comments are closed.