I'm going to say this right now (may have already said it somewhere here..) - I was underwhelmed by Sagan this year. Perhaps not underwhelmed by him as a rider, but by his approach and also by the way that points jersey is decided.
I am disappointed that the jersey went to someone who was clearly not the strongest sprinter (just the most consistent wheel sucker) —*whereas if you look at the KOM standings they seem pretty representative.
Cavendish and others have touched on it before, but it really does seem like sprinting is a devalued specialism in the tour - I would happily see intermediate sprints binned and a points system that is stacked in favour of the person who wins the stage.
Obvious arguments against this idea are that it would make it more predictable and the winner would win by a bigger margin (didn't seem to stop Sagan running away with it this year). However, it would at least be more representative and encourage an exciting rider like Sagan to make a bid to win other stages rather than just play the numbers game on the flat ones and roll in with the cunts on the rest.
@dan
I'm going to say this right now (may have already said it somewhere here..) - I was underwhelmed by Sagan this year. Perhaps not underwhelmed by him as a rider, but by his approach and also by the way that points jersey is decided.
I am disappointed that the jersey went to someone who was clearly not the strongest sprinter (just the most consistent wheel sucker) —*whereas if you look at the KOM standings they seem pretty representative.
Cavendish and others have touched on it before, but it really does seem like sprinting is a devalued specialism in the tour - I would happily see intermediate sprints binned and a points system that is stacked in favour of the person who wins the stage.
Obvious arguments against this idea are that it would make it more predictable and the winner would win by a bigger margin (didn't seem to stop Sagan running away with it this year). However, it would at least be more representative and encourage an exciting rider like Sagan to make a bid to win other stages rather than just play the numbers game on the flat ones and roll in with the cunts on the rest.