The green jersey, or maillot vert, is awarded to the rider who has accumulated the most points on the road, which can be picked up at the finish line and from intermediate sprints which crop up during each stage. In the Tour de France, the jersey is considered to be a sprinter's jersey, as the points awarded at the end of a stage are weighted towards sprinters, so that on flat stages, which a sprinter is likely to win, the winner is awarded more points than they would be for stages that finish in the mountains. The rider who is consistently at the front on flat stages and who hangs on in there over the mountains, picking up intermediate sprint points along the way, is likely to come away with the green jersey.
There are a number of contenders for the green jersey this year, from the pure sprinters such as Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel to riders who may not have as much out-and-out speed as the pure sprinters, but can get up climbs better and win sprint stages that do kick up a little bit, such as Peter Sagan. In 2012 it was Peter Sagan, the Slovakian wunderkind, who managed to secure the points jersey, having won three stages, including stages that finished uphill and, somewhat unexpectedly, stages that were completely flat. Thus, despite not being a pure sprinter, Sagan was able to capitalise on his ability to get over all kinds of terrain to win the jersey ahead of Andre Greiple and Matthew Goss.
Of course, in 2012 Peter Sagan did not have to contend with Mark Cavendish as a real contender. Although Mark Cavendish had signed with Team Sky in the belief that both the yellow and the green jerseys were being targeted, it soon became clear that all energies were being focused on securing Bradley Wiggins the yellow jersey. Thus, in the first few stages it seemed that Cavendish was left almost isolated, so that he ended up getting involved in a crash in a stage he should have won. There were also shots of him going back to the car in the world champion's jersey to act as the bottle carrier. Although he did go on to win three stages, he did not have the team support to win the green jersey as he had done in 2011.
However, this year, riding for Omega Pharma Quickstep, it is evident that the team is there to work solely for the Manx Missile and to help him secure the green jersey. He has already succeeded in wininng the points jersey in the Giro d'Italia, a race where it is much harder for sprinters to win the jersey, and has shown consistent form throughout the season. Peter Sagan has also been consistently up there and also has full team support, so that this is a battle that could come right down to the wire. There are also plenty of other sprinters on form, including Greipel, who similarly to Cav and Sagan, has just won the right to wear the national champion's jersey.
There are plenty of other sprinters desperate to make their mark on the Tour de France, including Nacer Bouhanni, John Degenkolb, Marcel Kittel, Matthew Goss and Alexander Kristoff. Of course, it is hard to gauge each rider's form until they actually start racing, and cycling can be an unpredictable sport, so that whilst on paper it might look like it will come down to a battle between Cavendish and Sagan, anything could happen. A young rider could come to the fore, just as Sagan did in 2012, or a crash could leave one of the contenders out of contention. The outcome remains to be seen.
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