It’s set to be an open battle for the sprinters to be on the podium in Paris alongside the other classification winners. Last year the spot was occupied by Mark Cavendish (QuickStep-Alpha Vinyl) but he might not even be at the race, with the team seeming to look for a different path.
Adding to the interest are the two types of riders that can look to win the classification, with both pure sprinters and fast men with more all-round abilities able to take the win.
Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma)
The fans of the Belgian star are getting what they want this July, seeing the phenom of world cycling attempt to take the green jersey. One of the top sprinters, he can also handle positioning in the final kilometres with amazing accomplishment and then you throw in his climbing ability and endurance that will allow him to reach stage finishes and intermediate sprints unavailable to others.
The question that will really shape van Aert’s green jersey push is one of team support. With Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard leading the way in the all-important battle for the overall win, how much effort will go into van Aert’s push for the sprint wins?
It’s one that will take careful balancing, but van Aert has some strong opinions on his role.
“It doesn’t mean that I am by definition a ‘loose pawn’ and that the six others can concentrate on Roglič,” said van Aert at the start of 2022. “My point is, if I go green, I expect the team to support me in that. And it would be a bit strange if I said: ‘Primož, I’m not helping you.”
Peter Sagan (TotalEnergies)
It wouldn’t be a discussion of the green jersey without the seven-time winner making an appearance with the possibility that he can make it eight times that he wears green in Paris. The three-time world champion has weathered a tough start to 2022 as illness ruined his spring racing.
He bounced back to form on Stage 3 of the Tour de Suisse, winning a sprint after a tricky course ahead of Bryan Coquard and Alexander Kristoff.
“It’s a just stage win,” Sagan said in his typical laconic fashion, though he went on to talk about how it marked a comeback from problems that plagued the first half of the year.
“It was not easy the last four or five months, and also it’s not easy to come back after a long break without racing. I was really like three months without races. And before that, I was racing, but I was sick and stuff, I was struggling with what was going on with me. I don’t know. For sure it’s nice to win, but I hope I’m going to grow still for the Tour de France.
“It’s a relief to win. But life is life. The important thing isn’t winning races, it’s being healthy.”
Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal)
The Australian sprinter planned an epic 2021, taking wins at all three Grand Tours and winning the green jersey at the Tour de France. He ticked off the first part, winning two stages at the Giro d’Italia, but the plan was derailed at the Tour as he crashed out on Stage 3, his injuries still too severe to allow him to race the Vuelta a Espana.
His 2022 predictions have been more subdued and there hasn’t been an indication as to whether he’ll contest the green jersey as he planned to in 2021, or whether he’ll return to his stage-hunting brief of year’s prior.
What is certain is that the Tour is his big goal of the season, with the ‘Pocket Rocket’ dropping out of the Giro to prepare to peak at the Tour start in Denmark.
“It is not possible to finish the Giro all the way if you also want to be in top form at the start of the Tour de France at the beginning of July,” said Ewan.
Ewan has only raced once since the end of the Giro, a second placed finish behind Fabio Jakobsen at the one-day race the Elfstedenronde Brugge, confirming that it would be his last preparation for the Tour de France.
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix)
Wherever Wout van Aert goes, Mathieu van der Poel is rarely far behind and often in front of his cyclocross and road racing rival. That won’t extend to a sprint classification battle however, with van der Poel ruling out getting involved in the battle for green.
“Three weeks of fighting for that green jersey is a heavy mental load,” said van der Poel. “It also takes away some of the freedom.
“I will therefore not interfere in that battle in this Tour, but I want to fully focus on stage victories. Don't forget that Wout already has a few big rounds (Grand Tours) in his legs. I think he can handle that combination more easily.”
Van der Poel nominated his teammate Jasper Philipsen as a potential candidate for green, but it will be a difficult task to win some stages for van der Poel and then get back into Philipsen for green mode, even for a squad as talented as Alpecin-Fenix.
“I don't know if it will be a goal for Jasper,” said van der Poel. “But it is something he must be able to handle. He crosses the cols quickly enough to occasionally grab some extra points in the intermediate sprints in a difficult stage. But I'm definitely not going to try it this year."
Who knows, we might be more likely to see him back in yellow!
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) crosses the finish line of stage 5 of the 2021 Tour de France. Source: Getty / Getty Images
Mark Cavendish/Fabio Jakobsen (QuickStep Alpha Vinyl)
With Mark Cavendish sitting equal on Eddy Merckx’s record for the most stage wins at the Tour de France at 34, the question has been whether he will return to try and beat that mark.
Since the finish on the Champs Elysees last year that question has remained open, though the thinking is hardening towards the team favouring Fabio Jakobsen over Cavendish, with the possibility of both racing very unlikely.
The man who’ll make the final call is the controversial Patrick Lefevre, QuickStep’s team boss, who all but confirmed that the Dane would be preferred over the Manxman, at the same time leaving the door open for Cavendish.
"It is no secret that we are going to sprint in the Tour with Fabio Jakobsen. Although I will continue to speak with two names until ad nauseam," Lefevre said in a column. "Last year, Sam Bennett was also a certainty, so to speak, but in the end Cavendish went to the Tour. I talked to him on the last weekend of the Giro. Mark said: 'I'm a pro, I'll be ready until the last day."
Jakobsen’s latest win, at Elfstedenronde Brugge on Sunday, was a likely demonstration of what we can expect at the Tour. That day, he beat Caleb Ewan and Tim Merlier while supported by his likely Tour sprint train in Michael Mørkøv, Florian Sénéchal and Yves Lampaert.
"Now, to be able to say that I am going to try to win a sprint stage motivates me a lot and I'm happy that the team put their confidence in me to do it,” said Jaokobsen when asked about his ambitions for the Tour. “That's the big goal of next year. After two Vueltas that were successful, we're taking another step up and trying to win in France."
Michael Matthews / Dylan Groenewegen (BikeExchange-Jayco)
BikeExchange-Jayco look set to pursue a two-pronged approach from a sprinting perspective with both Dylan Groenewegen and Michael Matthews heading to the Tour. This isn’t usually conducive to riders maintaining a challenge for the points jersey as the points become split between the two if one gains more one day, and the other gets up on the next stage.
Michael Matthews is a former winner of the green jersey back in 2017, capitalising on the disqualification of Peter Sagan that year to mount his winning run. He was also the closest to Mark Cavendish last year, finishing 46 points short of the Manxmann’s tally.
Sam Bennett (BORA-hansgrohe)
The other former winner of the maillot vert likely to start the Tour de France is Sam Bennett. He won in 2020 and was aiming for a repeat performance at next year’s Tour but a knee injury and a meltdown in his relationship with team boss Patrick Lefevre while with QuickStep Alpha Vinyl saw him miss the French Grand Tour and then switch squads at the end of the season.
“I am really confident that Sam is on track for the Tour, and that we will see him there at his best and that he can fight for the green jersey,” said Dan Lorang, Bennett’s coach.
“Sam made a big performance step after his first race block,” Lorang said. “After that we worked on his sprint abilities, on his strength and on some of the anaerobic capacities. This was something we couldn’t do before because of the knee problems.”
Bennett spoke of his return to BORA-hansgrohe and re-establishing his relationship with Lorang as a big positive in his Tour de France preparation.
“I really discovered myself when Dan Lorang was here,” said Bennett of his previous stint with BORA-hansgrohe. “I really worked well with him. The year I left [2019], I think I participated in 20-something sprints, and in only three of them I was outside the top three. I won 13 races.
“It was some of the best legs I have had. I know Dan can really have me in top shape.”
It’s shaping up to be an exciting battle for the points classification, and while van Aert deserves to be the outstanding favourite with his all-round abilities, there are plenty of others on the startline putting their hand for the prestigious green jersey.
