Is Marcel Kittel the best sprinter in world cycling? Before
the Tour anticipation had been that the green jersey would be a three way contest between Peter Sagan and and his highly impressive Argos Shimano side now have three
stage wins to their name, with yesterday being the most impressive of them and
perhaps the most impressive of the tour so far.
Sick to his stomach – literally – in last year’s Tour,
Kittel has leapt out of the shadow of the other main sprinters to take more
stages than anyone else in this tour so far. Granted, he was left as the only
serious bunch contender for the opening day ‘finish’, but he has since nailed
Andre Greipel late for his run into the line on Stage 12 and produced a quite
extraordinary performance to sit late off Cavendish’s wheel and then pounce for
the win, catching the Manx Missile in the shadow of the finish, a remarkable
performance considering Cavendish’s success when his leadout train has
functioned properly on the Tour in recent years.
Today the leadout trains will have the greatest say in the
matter, with a twisting final 5km (shown left) making crashes a big possibility and a nasty
kink less than a kilometre from the line enough to wreck somebody’s chances
early. Any one of the big three could take it today if in the right position –
Lotto were taken out by yesterday’s crash – but Argos seem to have kept their
act together more time than anyone and if Kittel is correctly positioned the
evidence of the past few days shows him to have the most raw power.
Advice
1 pt Marcel Kittel (11/4 Coral)
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