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Has the green jersey lost its prestige?

Cannondale is the only team actively contesting the green jersey in this years tdf!

You can't really say that nobody is bothering to contest the jersey because Sagan is too dominant... he clearly isn't. He isn't fast enough to take maximum points on sprint stages and he doesn't appear strong enough to take maximum points on rolling stages either. The reason he is so far ahead at present in the points competition is because from stage 1 Cannondale appears to be the only team targeting it and so Sagan takes max or almost max points virtually uncontested at intermediate sprints. There are multiple other teams though with riders in a similar mold whom are good enough sprinters (but maybe not the fastest) yet can also get over cat 3 climbs and hold their own in breakaways on stages which feature intermediate points.

Clearly it appears that stage wins rate higher than overall points competition honours whereas in years gone by the green jersey has often been hotly contested by several teams/riders and not decided until the final stages.
 
Feb 17, 2013
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No, Sagan doesn't have the speed to win a flat out sprint, and this year he doesn't even appear to have the speed to win a rolling/semi-mountainous stage, but he can finish in the top 3 or 5 of both of those kinds of stages, and there is no one else that can do that. The only person I can think of in that mold is Gilbert, and he isn't at the Tour this year and he rarely contests bunch sprints. You can't blame Cannondale for targeting green, the way that the points competition works, Sagan is the only one that can win it. Hushovd won it the same way several years ago, by picking up points when pure sprinters couldn't. In a way the green jersey is becoming like the polka dot jersey, neither symbolize the best sprinter or climber, but usually end up being won by someone who "lucks" into it. The ASO should go back to a format where flat stages provide double the points of a rolling/medium mountain stage. Only then will you see pure sprinters able to challenge for green again.
 
Green jersey should be the reward for the most consistently highly-placed rider. not the best sprinter. the reward for the best sprinter is to win stages, that is enough. Sagan is by far the best as getting good placing on different types of stage so he deserves to win green
 
Jul 4, 2011
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willbick said:
Green jersey should be the reward for the most consistently highly-placed rider. not the best sprinter. the reward for the best sprinter is to win stages, that is enough. Sagan is by far the best as getting good placing on different types of stage so he deserves to win green

Sean Kelly would disagree with you there. ;)

With there basically being no competition this year the organisers must go back to the drawing board with the intermediate sprints. We had one of them at the top of an uncategorised climb for heavens sake!

I think even the presence of Cav would not have made a scratch on Sagan again this year. And the race designers knew this was a strong possibility.

If they continue to make lumpy intermediate sprint points then maybe we need some official clarification of what the Green Jersey does actually represent!
 
It is no contest, because Sagan is so good.
He is good enough to finish flat sprints in the top 5 and good enough to survive medium mountain stages or even go in the attack in hard mountain stages.

He is therefore nearly impossible to beat, because nobody else can do that. I think only Kwiatkowski could potentially threaten him if he really wanted to. But so far Renshaw and Trentin have sprinted in Cavendish absence.
 
Aug 31, 2012
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SprintKing812 said:
The ASO should go back to a format where flat stages provide double the points of a rolling/medium mountain stage.

God no. The rewards of being able to do nothing but sprint in the flat with a lead-lead train are great enough as it is. No need to change the rules to allow that type of rider to get green as a byproduct as well.
 
It's a joke!

You can better let a gc contender who wins the most stages win that jersey like at the Giro or Vuelta than a guy like Sagan who isn't the best sprinter for sure.

Create some Intergiro classification for the intermediate sprints and only give points to the first 3 or 5 in flat sprint stages.

It's laughable Kittel doesn't even care about the jersey as he knows he has little chance to beat Sagan. Although he owns him in every sprint.
 
Aug 16, 2011
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I don't know if it's really lost it's prestige. But I am very disappointed that the top sprinters don't care about it. Kittel and Greipel are only interested in stage wins. And the other top sprinter being out is a real shame, because he probably would have gone for it.

It's true what Dekker says, that's probably a big part of it. But I think if Greipel and Kittel just took a chance and went for the intermediates combined with placings at the end then they could give him plenty of competition.

It would be nice if some of the lesser sprinter would try as well. Guys like Degenkolb or Kristoff could do well if they made it a priority. Coquard was going for the intermediates in the early stages, give him a couple years and he'll be a real threat for green IMO.
 
Afrank said:
I don't know if it's really lost it's prestige. But I am very disappointed that the top sprinters don't care about it. Kittel and Greipel are only interested in stage wins. And the other top sprinter being out is a real shame, because he probably would have gone for it.

It's hopeless really as long as Sagan is around.
 
Jan 24, 2012
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Dekker_Tifosi said:
Come to think of it, actually Degenkolb could definately challenge Sagan for green. But then Giant have to stop sacrificing him for Kittel. So that is not going to happen.

100% agree, there may actually be a few guys who could give Sagan a run with the current points system, but they are tied up for now with team duties and such.
 
Nov 16, 2011
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Just the opposite - more prestigious than ever. Sagan has only intentionally slowed down starting with today's finish. You could see he didn't fight for the line that he normally does due to the point advantage he has. I see him change his strategy to late breakaway stage wins now and slow down on the dangerous bunch finishes.
 
Afrank said:
I don't know if it's really lost it's prestige. But I am very disappointed that the top sprinters don't care about it. Kittel and Greipel are only interested in stage wins. And the other top sprinter being out is a real shame, because he probably would have gone for it.

It's true what Dekker says, that's probably a big part of it. But I think if Greipel and Kittel just took a chance and went for the intermediates combined with placings at the end then they could give him plenty of competition.

It would be nice if some of the lesser sprinter would try as well. Guys like Degenkolb or Kristoff could do well if they made it a priority. Coquard was going for the intermediates in the early stages, give him a couple years and he'll be a real threat for green IMO.
The only reason Greipel isn't going for it 100% is because he missed so many points in England that he didn't have a chance to win it. If Cav hadn't crashed both he and Greipel would've gone for it 100%.
 
So long as Sagan dominates it without actually winning, it will be the Best Loser jersey... 1 win in the last 32 stages (21 last year, 11 this). People need to stop blowing smoke up his backside - he's not at the level he was a year ago. More hard work, less Wolverine decals might be a start.
 
Jul 6, 2014
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One of the problems is that you only get 25,000 euros for winning the green jersey. Even coming 5th place overall allows you to get double that.
 
Aug 6, 2011
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Given the current parcours, there never really was a battle. Even given the fact that Sagan does not actually win, his points tally is already almost double that of the closest contender. Even if someone were to contest it, I doubt they would have gotten close to him.

Sure, Sagan is "failing", i.e. not winning any yet, but he has shown to be the best all-rounder present.
 
argyllflyer said:
So long as Sagan dominates it without actually winning, it will be the Best Loser jersey... 1 win in the last 32 stages (21 last year, 11 this). People need to stop blowing smoke up his backside - he's not at the level he was a year ago. More hard work, less Wolverine decals might be a start.

I give you a question. Do you as cycling fan prefer Sagan anmimating 8 out of 11 stages, beeing allways in finale or Sagan doing **** all the stages and winning one or two?

I just love this tour and way he has raced it so far. The results are not the proof of him beeing weaker btw the results are proof that DSs, riders are not the bunch of lazy stupid idiots and they did a lot of work during the winter.

He is loosing stage by stage, but I find myself enjoying the race and especially his attacs on his "wins" anyway.
 
willbick said:
Green jersey should be the reward for the most consistently highly-placed rider. not the best sprinter. the reward for the best sprinter is to win stages, that is enough. Sagan is by far the best as getting good placing on different types of stage so he deserves to win green

Exactly this. The yellow jersey is for the race on time, the green jersey is for the race on points - the most consistent rider. Which Sagan very clearly is. From letour.fr: Overall individual classification by points / Classement général individuel par points. Not Classement général du meilleur sprinteur by analogy with the polka dots.

I don't think anyone would be bothered about Sagan having this in the bag if the yellow jersey didn't seem sown up already as well.
 

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