Sagan may not win anymore, but he pops up with metronomic regularity in all the sprints at the Tour de France and has an ability to sniff out chances his rivals are unable to grab.
The former world champion started Monday’s third stage in his regular trade kit for only the 12th time in 9 participations. However, with a 5th place in the final sprint for the stage, Sagan took back the green jersey and he remains the stand-out favourite to wear the points jersey in Paris.
“It was a pretty messy sprint. In the final three or four kilometres of the stage, we had a terrible headwind and everybody was all over the place – riders were coming to the front then dropping back, it was messy,” Sagan said.
“Thanks to Daniel’s [Oss] lead-out work we were able to position ourselves well, but I think we launched the sprint too early and at about 150 metres from the finish I was overtaken from the right.
“Still, I’m happy for this green jersey. It’s nice to wear it and I’ll do my best to keep it all the way to Paris”.
Stage 3 winner Caleb Ewan doesn’t believes that the green jersey competition suits pure sprinters like him.
“The way the points work it’s just not a competition that suits a pure sprinter,” Ewan said. “We haven’t seen a pure sprinter win in years. I think not just Sagan but also [Wout] Van Aert who can climb and sprint. The days I can’t get to the finish, they’ll get there and get maximum points. Even the days when I can win, they’re always top five or top 10 and always scoring points.”
