Tour de France 2022 – Green jersey and polka dot jersey guide: Wout van Aert & Ruben Guerreiro favourites?

Last year Mark Cavendish won a second green jersey a decade after his first with four sprint victories that saw him draw level with Eddy Merckx’s long-standing Tour de France record of 34 stage wins. But the Manxman’s snub by his Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team means we will have to wait at least another year to see Cavendish attempt to become the outright record stage record holder – and probably in the colours of a different team.

More pressingly, it means a new rider will stand atop the podium in Paris with a green jersey covering his shoulders. That man, however, won’t necessarily be Cav’s teammate and replacement, Fabio Jakobsen.

The Dutchman has proved to be the fastest sprinter this season but the 109th edition of the Tour is a race seriously lacking in flat finishes. And beyond the Grand Depart in Denmark, there are no back-to-back opportunities for the fastmen from a parcours that favours the puncheurs, climbers and breakaway artists over the flat-track bullies.

Ad/> All this plays into the hands of the one team whose major objective, funnily enough, is not green but yellow: the Jumbo-Visma squad of GC duo Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard, whose Belgian teammate Wout van Aert has the exact characteristics needed to win the green jersey in 2022. Tour de FranceOpening week of Tour de France 'as close to gladiatorship as it gets' — VoigtAN HOUR AGO Tour de France 2022 route: Every stage assessed for bruising 109th edition Tour de France 2022 – team guide: Star riders, style, memorable moments How the green jersey competition works Points for the green jersey competition are awarded at the finish line of all stages as well as at one intermediate sprint during all stages except the time trials.