Peter Sagan ties Tour de France record with sixth green jersey

Peter Sagan won his sixth Tour de France green jersey. This win brought Sagan level with Erik Zabel for the all-time record number points titles.

Long before the race reached Paris this year, Peter Sagan had already locked down his record-tying sixth Tour de France green jersey. After a controversial crash in the 2017 Tour de France earned the Slovak star a suspension and an early departure from the race, he returned in 2018 to leave no doubts that he is the preeminent points rider of this generation of cyclists.

This year brought a sixth green jersey in seven years. In the process, Sagan is now level with German legend Erik Zabel in the Tour de France record books. It has been a run that has only become more and more dominant over time.

In 2012, Sagan won his first green jersey by 141 points over André Greipel. A year later, the Slovak star was 97 points ahead of Mark Cavendish. Alexander Kristoff was the runner-up in 2014, finishing 149 points behind Sagan.

Greipel tried his best to usurp the green jersey from Sagan in 2015. But even with four stage victories that year, the German only managed to get within 66 points of the defending champ as Sagan ran away with his fourth consecutive green jersey.

Sagan came a win away from tying Erik Zabel’s record in 2016, as he claimed his fifth consecutive green jersey. With three stage wins and a steady stream of consistent performances in a variety of terrain, Sagan more than doubled the 228 points put up by runner-up Marcel Kittel.

Sagan was on track to match Zabel’s feat of six straight in 2016, but …

That dream was not to be realized. After winning the previous day’s stage, Sagan came into Stage 4 of the 2017 Tour de France with a legitimate chance to take two straight stage wins and build a solid lead in the green jersey race.

With just a few meters left to the finish line in , Sagan drifted toward the barriers trying to follow Arnaud Démare’s line. With the drift, though, Sagan impeded Mark Cavendish. Pushing his arms out, Cavendish tried to move around but found no space. Cavendish crashed into the barriers and was forced to pull out of the Tour. The race officials judged that Sagan deliberately caused the crash, and he was pulled out of the race.

That made this year’s Tour de France a race of redemption for Sagan. There were highs and lows, and his finish in Paris was hardly certain along the way. But the world champion ultimately made his way to the Champs-Élysées and fought through to win the green jersey.

How things unfolded to win green jersey number six

What seemed like an almost certain sixth Tour de France green jersey before the race began ultimately became a fight to the finish. The first two weeks went smoothly enough, as the world champion captured three stage wins and gained a stranglehold on the green jersey.

Sagan’s first victory came in the second bunch sprint of the 2018 Tour de France. On the Stage 2 run into La Roche-sur-Yon, the rainbow jersey opened up his sprint early. He then held off Sonny Colbrelli and Arnaud Démare for the win, trading out the rainbow stripes for the green jersey.

The next stage win came three days later into Quimper. Greg Van Avermaet led out the sprint, riding off the front in the yellow jersey. Sagan came around Van Avermaet alongside Colbrelli, and the two matched one another kick for kick for the first few meters. But then Sagan found another gear and pulled away from the Italian for his second stage win.

Then the green jersey leader completed a hat trick of victories on Stage 13 into Valence. Nailing down his place as the top dog in the points race, the green jersey leader came around Démare and Alexander Kristoff for stage win number three in 2018 and his 11th career Tour de France stage victory.

After both Gaviria and Dylan Groenewegen withdrew from the race, Sagan had nobody who could seriously challenge his position in the green jersey race. Before the 2018 Tour de France even reached its final week, green was guaranteed as long as the leader reached Paris.

A crash on Stage 17 forced Sagan to fight his own limitations

An overcooked corner on the descent of the Col de Val Louron-Azet caused the green jersey to shred on the tarmac as the points leader suffered some nasty abrasions. Banged up and bruised, Sagan battled to the finish line on the climb to Saint-Lary-Soulan. After X-rays revealed no fractures, the leader decided to soldier on to fight for the green.

MEDAL RESULT | Tour de France points classification

Peter Sagan

Alexander Kristoff

Arnaud Démare

“It would be very easy to just go home, but two or three days before Paris, no. It could be worse,” the green jersey leader told Cycling News after the stage. “I have some scratches and I hit the muscle on my ass. I hope it is going to be better in one or two days.”

Sagan was in the rearguard on Stage 19 that finished just inside the time limit on the final mountain stage. Survival in the individual time trial on the penultimate stage meant all Sagan needed to do was ride in the parade into Paris and survive on the Champs-Élysées.

Survive he did, and now he is tied with Erik Zabel for the all-time record in green jerseys at the Tour. Zabel was 31 years old when he captured his sixth and final green jersey. Sagan is just 28 years old as he celebrates the record-tying achievement.

For the moment, Sagan will now turn his attention at a run at a fourth straight world title. After he put in yet another dominant display at this year’s Tour, where he increased his gap over the runner-up even further, Sagan will be the odds-on favorite to break his tie with Zabel next July.