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Who Is Going to Win the Green Jersey?

By Monica Buck

First day in the Tour and a first win. Fernando Gaviria couldn’t do any better than that and he sent a strong message to all Sagan’s fans out there. This year is not going to be a walk in the park for the world champ.

Gaviria shines

The 23-year-old Colombian might be a new face to the casual cycling fan, but aficionados have known about him for several years now. He has been touted as the next Mark Cavendish for a similar physique and sprinting style. And he even beat the Manx Man twice back at the 2015 Tour de San Luis. He beat Sagan in the 2016 edition of the same race, so there’s no doubt the Slovak knows what he’s up against.

“If you fear crashing, then you’re not going to win anything,” the Colombian said after the second stage.

With support from the Quick-Step Floors, Gaviria sits firmly in second place with 156 points.

Sagan in the lead

The world champion has finished in the TOP 10 in all stages, except the TTT. With two first places and two seconds, he was placed eighth in the hilly finish yesterday and proved that he might be in the best form of his life. He’s still having fun, however, which he proved after winning stage 4.

“I spoke with Colbrelli during the stage, I told him not to surprise me. He said, ‘come on Peter, at least give me one’, but I told him that I already have so many second places at the Tour that I don’t want another.”

Sagan won five consecutive points classifications in 2016. In 2015 he famously took the Škoda Green Jersey without winning a single stage. Obviously, that will not be the case this year. He’s currently first with 199 points.

Cavendish out?

So far, it’s been a sad Tour for the Manx Man. He only got 11 points in the race for the Škoda Green Jersey and is placed 161st overall. British fans call that a solid performance on social media, but we doubt Cavendish likes being the target of these bitter jokes.

Will he make a comeback? We certainly hope so. We’ll see once the mountains clear.

Points Classification after Stage 6

1 Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) 199 PTS
2 Fernando Gaviria Rendon (Quick-Step Floors) 156 PTS
3 Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) 88 PTS
4 André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) 75 PTS
5 Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) 57 PTS
6 Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) 55 PTS
7 Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) 53 PTS
8 Marcel Kittel (Katusha Alpecin) 52 PTS9
9 Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) 45 PTS
10 Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) 44 PTS