All week, Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) has been saying that she is not aiming for the green jersey. That his team is in the Tour de France Femmes with Zwift to win stages.
But just because he’s not aiming for the green doesn’t mean he won’t win it.
Indeed, while Vos has been glowing in yellow since winning the second stage, he has also been building an unassailable lead in the points classification. He has now led this competition for five days without running a single green.
In Vos’ press conference after winning Friday’s Stage 6 in Rosheim, CyclingTips asked if it was simply a happy accident that he had found himself in green, given that he had apparently never been in the spotlight. Or was it that he had actually been keeping an eye on the green, but wasn’t saying so much? After all, she’s been active in intermediate sprints all week.
“Well, it’s not an accident,” the 35-year-old said with a laugh. “We were aiming for stage wins, and we knew that doing that, of course you try to be at the front every day.”
It’s fair to say that Vos has achieved this goal of being “on top every day”. In six stages so far he has achieved two wins, two second places, a third and a fifth. It’s a good way to accumulate points.
He explained to you that it’s all about energy management.
“Aiming for the green shirt [also costs] a lot of energy on the road,” he said. “So we want to spend the energy properly and put the focus on the stage win. But of course along the way, taking those points, it’s really nice to be in this position in the green jersey standings now going into the final weekend.”
With two stages to go, Vos leads the Tour by 30 seconds ahead of Silvia Persico (Valcar-Travel&Service) and Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), with Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) just five seconds back. As the remaining two stages essentially end at the top of a considerable climb, Vos is very much hoping to lose the yellow.
“Well, looking at the profile tomorrow and Sunday, it’s definitely a different kind of race,” he said. “We were aiming for a stage win. That already worked on Monday and now a second [the] the yellow jersey is already more than we could have dreamed; we could have waited But I’ll try to recover as well as I can going into the final weekend.
“Of course, there are some very good climbers. GC riders are targeting this weekend. Tomorrow we will see other names ahead.”
Tomorrow’s stage features three top-class climbs, including the 13.5km (6.7% average) Grand Ballon which comes within 7km of the finish. It is highly unlikely that Vos will still be in the yellow jersey at the end of the day. Fortunately, there will be another iconic shirt waiting for her.
With 267 points in the bank, Vos essentially has the green jersey classification locked up. With Lorena Wiebes (DSM) in second place with 191 points, and Longo Borghini being the top featured climber with 67 points, the only way Vos loses green is if he doesn’t finish the Tour.
Considering Vos has won two stages this week and spent five days in the yellow jersey, his Tour has already been a success. Apparently, winning the green jersey will simply be an advantage.
How similar to you.