The Rules
If you’ve never watched the Tour before (or not very often) you might wonder what the ‘Green Jersey’ or the Points Competition is awarded to the most consistent rider via the allocation of points for finishing from first to 20th on each stage.
It often goes to a sprinter – a rider who is able to ride incredibly fast for extended periods of time, much like sprint athletes – the main reason being that there are always more sprint stages on Tours because of the geographical and physical demands of mountain stages.
You can have three, or even four mountain stages in a row, but any more is very tough on the riders, and the teams and the race caravans to boot.
These are how the points are allocated and across which stages:
- Flat stages (Stages 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 16, 21) 50-30-20-18-16-14-12-10-8-7-6-5-4-3 and 2 points for the first 15 riders
- Hill finish/Medium mountain stages (Stages 3, 5, 8, 14, 15, 19): 30-25-22-19-17-15-13-11-9-7-6- 5-4-3-2 points
- Mountain Stages (Stages 9, 12, 13, 17, 18): 20-17-15-13-11- 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 points
- Individual time trial stages (Stages 1 and 20): 20-17-15-13-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 points
- Intermediate sprints: 20-17-15-13-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 points
Eight of the stages are categorised as flat with the 50 points for winning, although there are up to 13 potential sprint finishes and of course nine sprint stages as designated by the Tour.
Peter Sagan
Peter Sagan has won the last five editions. The World Champion is a pure powerhouse who can turn his talent to any sort of stage, and it’s not a surprise that he’s so dominant here.
However, his best terrain tends to be uphill sprints, where the very end of the stage contains an uphill gradient of anything from 4% upwards to 10% over a range of distances from 500m to a kilometre. There have been a lot of these finishes in recent tours but there are only two in this year’s event that stand out. Monday’s Stage 3 finish in Longwy, and Stage 15, which takes place over the same finish that saw Greg Van Avermaet pip Sagan to the finish in 2015.
Of course, Sagan is involved in a lot of flat stages and there will be no end of seconds and thirds but he has a huge amount of pure flat sprinters to deal with this year as they have aimed themselves at the race following the route.
Marcel Kittel
Marcel Kittel’s tour didn’t go to plan last year with just the one win but he is far better than that showed and his excellent Prologue and win in the ZLM Toer is very encouraging. He probably has the most raw power to put down over anyone and arrives here in form, so this looks his big chance to take green. Also, he comes with the Quick-Step team that might include Philippe Gilbert as the last man to boot, so in a packed field, has a major advantage.
Mark Cavendish
Is already a winner of the Green Jersey and probably the most well known to readers here. He won four stages last year after many form readers had underestimated him and again he comes in under the radar given that he’s had an injury interrupted season thanks to the Epstein Barr Virus and also an ankle injury which means that he’s had precious little racing. He overcame doubts last year but how he starts will be a big factor – he’s only raced the Tour of Slovenia recently.
Andre Greipel
A legend of sprints thanks to his pure durability, he is aiming to a record of winning at least one stage in every grand tour he’s ridden since 2008. He struck early at the Giro but he was disappointing through the rest of the race and he will need to get into the right places far more often.
Arnaud Demare
France’s best hope of taking the jersey. He took the green jersey at the Dauphine when clearly the quickest sprinter (and he will be disappointed that he didn’t take stage 4 from Phil Bauhaus as well).
He has seven riders to help him, all solely aiming for his stage win, and he has a great chance of taking at least a stage even if the green jersey might be a tad too much for him.
Michael Matthews
Very much a puncheur, he showed just how good he can be when he beat Sagan and John Degenkolb in an uphill sprint at the Tour de Suisse although he didn’t have a successful rest of the week, having a next best of sixth then. There are two stage he’ll really target but more consistency is going to be needed if the jersey is realistic.
Alexander Kristoff
Has struggled with contract concerns this year, a shame for the generally super consistent Norwegian who has also had some abandonments too. He can pick up plenty of form during the race but he will struggle to be in the jersey running if that’s the case.
Dylan Groenewegen
Has only a handful of wins on his palmares but he’s very young still and looks sure to get on the board at one stage. This year’s Tour could be ideal with so many chances and it will be a great learning curve for him.
Nacer Bouhanni
Talented no doubt, but self destructive(he got into a fight in a nightclub on the even of last year’s French Championships and had to pull out after just 40km). Second to Demare at the French National Championships but never threatened to win and could find himself outgunned on a few fonts without lead-out man Geoffrey Soupe.
