Sagan Disqualified. Green Jersey Up For Grabs
Peter Sagan is out, which upends the best sprinter standings for the rest of the race.
Peter Sagan is out, which upends the best sprinter standings for the rest of the race. – By Joe Lindsey
Who’s Left?
Démare, for one. The young French sprinter had never finished higher than third in a stage in two previous Tours. But he has four wins since the start of June already, and his form looks to be on a tear: able to match the pure sprinters like Andre Greipel and Stage 1 winner Marcel Kittel, but also able to climb, as he showed with a sixth-place finish on Stage 2 with its 1.6-kilometre ascent to the line in Longwy.
Démare now leads the points competition with 124 to Kittel’s 81. The first crash in the finish of Stage 4 was particularly costly to Kittel, who didn’t go down but was gapped off the front and never caught back on, finishing 13th and scoring four meager points (he added 11 in the intermediate sprint but again, Démare was fastest in the field and took 17 there, behind lone breakaway Guillaume Van Keirsbulck, and 50 for the stage win).
Unless an unlooked-for rider goes on a hot streak, the green jersey competition is rapidly narrowing to just a few likely contenders. Past Démare and Kittel, it’s Greipel, Alexander Kristoff and Michael Matthews who seem to still be in good contention.
Of these, Kittel is the most likely challenger. But the crash that separated him from the front of the race was costly to his team, with leadout men Fabio Sabatini and Matteo Trentin got bruises and cuts from the crash. Greipel is unbeatable with a good leadout, but he hasn’t had one yet and seems to be a little lost without it. He’ll likely win a stage, as he has at least once every year since 2011. But neither he nor Kristoff seem able—at least right now—to put together the whole package they need to cross the line first.
Matthews might be the most intriguing challenger, because like Sagan, he’s known for his climbing abilities (he was second to Sagan on Stage 3). There aren’t a ton of mixed-terrain stages this Tour, but now Matthews is in the prime position to take advantage of them while still showing decently in flat sprints. That said, Démare showed he’s got decent climbing form right now as well, and it won’t be easy to get rid of him in the hills.
All that’s really certain about the green jersey standings in the 2017 Tour is that, barring an extremely likely reversal of the race jury decision, it will be a new winner in Paris. And, whatever side of the debate you stand on about who caused Cavendish’s crash and whether DQ’ing Sagan was fair or too harsh, with Sagan out and Cav ailing, the competition shines a little less bright.
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