2011 Tour de France green jersey preview
On Tuesday, Thor Hushovd and Mark Cavendish were in Paris for the unveiling of the 2011 Tour de France route. Both riders finished just behind Alessandro Petacchi in the green jersey
competition at the 2010 Tour. The points system has been revised for 2011 and Hushovd thinks he stands to benefit from the new system.
"I think it's a hard route, a hard Tour but I like the first week," said Hushovd to
Cycling News. "There are two, maybe three chances for me where there are a couple of climbs near the finishes. After we hit the Massif Central there are not that many chances left for me or the other sprinters. The Pyrenees and the Alps are going to
be very hard."
Earlier this month, Hushovd became the first Norwegian to become the road race World Champion, defeating pre-race favourite Philippe Gilbert and defending champion Cadel Evans. He has won nine green jerseys
in the last ten years, including one at the Vuelta a Espana in 2006 and two at the Tour de France, in 2005 and 2009. He has finished in the top four in the points competition at the Tour every year since 2003, twice in each position from fourth to first.
"There are a lot of changes to the green jersey classification and that will change a lot but right now I don't know what will happen," said Hushovd. "I'm focused on a couple of stages where I will focus
100 per cent. I think for Tyler (Farrar), if he starts well he can go for the green jersey. Stage one and then the three or four are for me and then stage five or six could be for me. I'll do everything I can to be ready for those days.”
This year, Hushovd couldn’t stop Cavendish, ‘the fastest rider in the world,’ from jumping ahead of him in the final stages to finish behind Petacchi. Cavendish currently hold the record for most career
sprint finishes at the Tour, with 15, all won in the last three years. There are plenty of opportunities for more stage wins in 2011, but the points system might make the green jersey a tougher challenge for him.
“Initially, I’d say there are six potential stages but less than last year,” said Cavendish. “We’ve got to sit down and evaluate it properly. I’ve only known about the changes for ten minutes. We’ll sit
down and look at it and see if it’s good or bad. It might be brilliant, it might be awful.”
The points awarded for a stage victory has been increased from 40 to 45, which benefits Cavengish, but the intermediate sprints have been redesigned. In 2011, there will only be one intermediate sprint
per stage, as opposed to three and the first across the line will take 20 points The first 15 riders will all earn points at the sprint, as opposed to only the first three.
“The 20 points for intermediate sprints will change things because in the past you had six for them and you had to win three to get 18 now it’s just one sprint and 20 points,” said Alan Peiper, sports
director for Cavendish’s team HTC-Columbia. “That’s half a stage win.”
Cavendish will also face a new opponent, Andre Greipel, a former fellow sprinter at HTC-Columbia. Greipel has gotten the short end of the stick in the biggest races since the team would always send Cavendish
as their sprint specialist to the Grand Tours. The German sprinter has won 44 stages and six green jerseys in the last three years, including the 2009 Vuelta a Espana. In 2010 alone he won 20 stages and four points classification jerseys, one of them at the
Tour Down Under where he also took the overall victory for the second time. He has transferred to Omega Pharma-Lotto under the condition that he would ride with them in the Tour de France.
“The guys left in the cold are the sprinters because there are not that many opportunities for them,” said Omega Pharma-Lotto manager Marc Sergeant of the 2011 route. “We promised Greipel that he will
be in the Tour, so he will go there. He can beat Cavendish. Look, Petacchi did it, it’s not easy but it can be done.”
The 2010 green-jersey winner was not in attendance at the Tour presentation of Tuesday for the same reason as overall winner Alberto Contador was absent – he is being investigated for banned doping practices.
The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) has accused the rider of using Pfc (Perfluorocarbon) and human serum albumin during the Tour. If his is found guilty it could mean a lifetime suspension for Petacchi, who received a nine-month ban in 2007 for using Salbutamol
at the Giro d’Italia.
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