Can Sagan win the 2012 TdF points Jersey?

[Froome19]

Cav got smoked on every single stage except the one he won

Greipel is a beast, remember what he did on the first real stage(not the silly prologue)? Sagan should thank Greipel for that.
Greipel also survived the third stage. Where was Cav?

Greipel > Cav this year. For someone with no talent Greipel sure wins a lot.

You do realize Greipel dislocated his shoulder today in a crash right? And he STILL got second.

Smoked... that implies he has gotten well beaten on every single stage

 

[Froome19]

You can deny the bad luck Phil and Greipel had. I see no difference in denying Cav's bad luck.

If he had a sprint train this would've never happened. Like I said, Cav benefited a great deal of the very strong HTC team. And what do the Olympics have to do with this? This is about the green jersey and Greipel is Sagan's biggest rival now. Not Cavendish. Who says Cav won't fail horribly at the Olympics anyway? Greipel climbs better than him and is faster this year.

Ps: in stage 5 Cav was there and got destroyed...

If they both had an equal sprint train then most likely Cav will win.

I they both dont have a sprint train then Cav's positioning ensures he will win

 

[whittashau]

Okay for the real question - What other victory celebrations can we expect from Peter? What other victory celebrations should he do?

 

[jens_attacks]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_z4IuxAqpE&feature=player_detailpage#t=35s

 

[Pentacycle]

Okay for the real question - What other victory celebrations can we expect from Peter? What other victory celebrations should he do?

Sagan really should do this:

He'll need some practicing, though

 

[whittashau]

Sagan really should do this:

He'll need some practicing, though

That might be a bit much. I wouldn't be surprised if he pops a wheelie though. Him mowing down the competitors with a pretend machine gun might upset the ASO/UCI, Jens

 

[Flamin]

Greipel will be remembered as a good sprinter that was being wasted on Cav.

Right. In 2007 Greipel still was a nobody, even neo-pro Ciolek was already considered a better sprinter back then. 2008 was his breakthrough year. So 2009 and 10 can be seen as a waste. Boohoo, 2 years... And he still has 4-5 years to go at top level.

 

[VeloMaster]

Right. In 2007 Greipel still was a nobody, even neo-pro Ciolek was already considered a better sprinter back then. 2008 was his breakthrough year. So 2009 and 10 can be seen as a waste. Boohoo, 2 years... And he still has 4-5 years to go at top level.

Greipel is a pretty good bike rider, if you ask me. I've seen him pull team mates uphill, even carry bottles, and do all the big and little stuff that makes a complete rider. Two days ago, he caught up in the crash at 3 km and still made it back to win. Today, he dislocated his shoulder and still got 2nd.

If he were from an anglophone country, I'm not sure we'd be having this discussion.

 

[Flamin]

Greipel is a pretty good bike rider, if you ask me. I've seen him pull team mates uphill, even carry bottles, and do all the big and little stuff that makes a complete rider. Two days ago, he caught up in the crash at 3 km and still made it back to win. Today, he dislocated his shoulder and still got 2nd.

If he were from an anglophone country, I'm not sure we'd be having this discussion.

Not sure what point you're trying to make here? I'm not saying Greipel isn't a good bike rider or something. Not at all.

 

[Yingge]

1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale 209 pts
2 Matthew Harley Goss (Aus) Orica GreenEdge Cycling Team 178
3 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Belisol Team 167
4 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Sky Procycling 129
5 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre - ISD 109

Obviously Cav is going to have great difficulty making up 80 points on Sagan. If anyone can do it, it's probably Cav, but it's a long shot.

3 man race for green.

I think the question now is at what point will Cav depart the TDF to prepare for the Olympics. Green seems to be out of his reach now.

As for Green in Paris, any of Sagan, Goss or Greipel.

 

[SetonHallPirate]

I think the thing that's forgotten is that Sagan can climb. He did win Stage 3 of the Tour de Suisse last year (granted, that finished on a descent, but he was fifth over both climbs in that stage, and one of the climbs was a Cat. 1, and the other an HC).

Sagan probably isn't going to win any grand tours, given his emphasis on sprinting, but if he ever gets away from that and decides to go for stage race wins, he could well be competitive there as well.

 

[snackattack]

Panda gonna win today

I think the thing that's forgotten is that Sagan can climb.

 

[Kopuliak]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onamrs8jx2I&

 

[burning]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onamrs8jx2I&

He's so arrogant!!

 

[snackattack]

1/2way

 

[Wilba60]

If they stay uninjured and out of crashes it seems to be just Sagan vs Goss now for the sprint jersey. Sagan is in the gun seat with extra points and the ability to win some stages where Goss won't be able to stick with him. Goss though has the full team support and has won almost every intermediate sprint.

The one intermediate sprint does add another interesting component to each stage and it was interesting to see Sagan jump into the early break yesterday and then Goss and Gerrans work really hard to at first shut it down and then later to jump into a large bridging group and join Sagan in the break.

With Cavendish pulling for Wiggins and Greipel not contesting the intermediate, Goss will have to rely on Hutarovich or possibly a Lancaster or Impey to get between himself and Sagan (if he can keep winning them). Not sure if other sprinters will try and contest the intermediates now. Tonight will be interesting with a HC climb before the intermediate sprint. Wonder if Sagan and Goss will go for this one?

 

[greenedge better then some]

if goss ever goes from the 200m mark like he want she will beat sagan in the 2nd an 3rd week of the tour imo,but if he makes a tiny mistake (like in the first week) sagan will blow him away so it's sitll up in the air

 

[snackattack]

if goss ever goes from the 200m mark like he want she will beat sagan in the 2nd an 3rd week of the tour imo,but if he makes a tiny mistake (like in the first week) sagan will blow him away so it's sitll up in the air

TODAY

 

[chrisb]

how long will Cav stay with Sky if he's not able to compete for the Green Jersey?

thats the big question

 

[will10]

Sagan has now won after Goss' DQ.

 

[royalpig180]

Sagan has now won after Goss' DQ.

Based of the official tour website, it looks like they simply relegated Goss to a place behind Sagan (7th) rather than the back of the whole group. Possibly because Sagan and Goss got a 1 second gap on the rest?

EDIT: Looks like there was also a points penalty. Sure makes things harder for Goss now...

 

[will10]

I thought a relegation would be harsh, a points penalty is completely ridiculous.

 

[barn yard]

I thought a relegation would be harsh, a points penalty is completely ridiculous.

what would be ridiculous is chopping someone and putting them in hospital and ending their season and getting away with it

 

[will10]

what would be ridiculous is chopping someone and putting them in hospital and ending their season and getting away with it

It was no Ferrari.

 

[Kopuliak]

I thought a relegation would be harsh, a points penalty is completely ridiculous.

losing only one place/2 points for Goss and his dirty, cowardly move would be ridiculous even more ...