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cycling: Tour de France rest day #1: Excitement in (almost) all classifications

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Tour de France rest day

Cycling: The Tour de France is the most important and largest cycling race in the world. In recent years, however, the three-week Grand Tour has rarely been exciting. This season, however, everything is different. We are facing a tight finish in all competitions. After nine stages, the first Tour de France rest day of 2018 gives us a brief overview.

Yellow jersey: The time intervals are very limited

After nine days of the Tour de France we can look back on six different stage winners and three yellow jersey wearers. After Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) and Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) who wore the yellow jersey has been driving since the fourth stage greg van avermaet (BMC) in yellow through France. This should come to an end tomorrow, Tuesday, because then the climbers will take command. Although we already have one team time trial, Lahore Cobblestone stage and have seen numerous breakdowns and falls, the gaps in the overall ranking are very limited. So far, it cannot be said that a preliminary decision has been made. As the best-placed classification driver Geraint Thomas (Sky) at #2. Together with him, most of the classification drivers are within 2:40 minutes.

Geraint Thomas
Bob Jungels +0:07
Alejandro Valverde +0:48
Raal Majka +0:49
Jakob Fuglsang +0:50
Chris Froome +0:59
Adam Yates +0:59
Mikel Landa +0:59
Vincenzo Nibali +1:05
Primoz Roglic +1:14
Build Mollema +1:15
Tom Dumoulin +1:20
Steven Kruijswijk +1:23
Romain Bardet +1:49
Ilnur Zakarin +1:59
Nairo Quintana +2:07
Rigoberto Uran +2:13
Daniel Martin +2:39
Tejay Van Garderen +5:22
Ion Izagirre +7:39
Pierre Latour +8:37
Guillaume Martin +10:26

Green Jersey: Gaviria can pose a threat to Sagan

The points classification was always a clear thing for in the past few years Peter Sagan – if he has not been disqualified. Also this year everything looks as if the three-time world champion can easily drive home the green jersey of the Tour de France. He is currently leading with 299 points Fernando Gaviria, who comes to 218 points. If Sagan can endanger anyone, only Gaviria. The Colombian has the best team at his side for the mass sprints and has already won two stages. If he stays ahead of Sagan at the intermediate sprints and wins the remaining flat stages, things could get tight again. But as we know Sagan, he will sneak under the escapees on one or the other mountain stage and get the necessary points in the intermediate sprints. The green jersey is only held by Peter Sagan this year. If he finishes, nobody should be able to dispute it.

Polka dot jersey: The hunt for the mountain jersey begins on Tuesday

The battle for the mountain jersey is intense in the first days of a Tour de France. Although few points are awarded, many teams are eyeing the polka dot jersey. On Tuesday, however, the competition for this jersey really begins. On the tenth stage, someone could get 51 points in one fell swoop with five climbs. For comparison: the currently leading one Tom Skujins (Trek-Segafredo) has six points. It's quite possible that the Latvian will go into the breakaway group to be able to defend the jersey. But since he is not considered a proven mountaineer, this endeavor seems doomed to failure. So we'll probably have one in the future thomas degendt (Lotto Soudal) or one Warren Barguil (Fortuneo-Samsic) in the polka dot jersey.

White jersey: Kragh Andersen heads into the mountains with a lead

With Soren Kragh Andersen hardly anyone expected before the start of the Tour de France. Now the Dane has been wearing the white jersey of the best young rider for several stages. He will tackle the first mountain stage on Tuesday with a lead of seven minutes. Despite his flawless performance so far, it seems unlikely that he will be able to wear the white jersey all the way to Paris. The competition is too strong when things go uphill. Nevertheless, they have to stretch themselves properly if they want to make up for the lead. Pierre Latour (AG2R La Mondiale) for example is already 7:37 behind Andersen. William Martin (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) is 9:26 behind and Egan Bernal (Sky) and Marc Soler (Movistar) are already 16:09 and 24:53 behind. To make matters worse, all of the named riders have helper duties to perform – including Sören Kragh Andersen himself. So it should be exciting to see who gets to keep an eye on the white jersey.

Tags:greg van avermaetNewsPeter Saganrest daySoren Kragh AndersenTom SkujinsTour de France

More than Michael Behringer

Cycling with all its tactics, stage analyses, placements and forecasts are Michael Behringer's great passion. In 1996 he tracked his first Tour de France. Since then he has observed almost every race. His passion for cycling has been with him for over two decades. There is no end in sight.