Unveiling the High-Octane Riders Set to Dominate the Sprints at the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia
[table-of-contents] stripped
As summer grows ever closer, our focus shifts to the emblematic jerseys of the Grand Tours: the maglia rosa, the maillot jaune, and the maillot rojo—and rightly so. After all, we watch bike races in large part to see who’s going to win, especially when we have such riches as we do these days, with some of the most talented GC riders in generations battling it out on the long course of a Grand Tour.
But what about the green and purple jerseys, those awarded to the leaders and winners of the points classifications, often, though not always, noted sprinters?
These are men and women capable of making unfathomable watts, often after four, five, and sometimes six-plus hours of racing, who are held at bay all day, only to unleash their greatest skills for barely a few hundred meters. They’re often the ones who give us the biggest thrills and the narrowest victories (or defeats).
While we focus on the speed and raw power of sprinters, one thing that’s often overlooked is how well they race; how the best sprinters are often the most patient riders, waiting until the perfect moment to launch their attacks. Theirs is often a game of cat-and-mouse, a strategic battle as much as a power-based one. Given the blazing speed at which these riders can sprint, it’s easy to forget that they’re some of the savviest riders in the peloton.
So, who are they? Let’s take a deeper look at the riders going for those green jerseys and points competitions at the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España this summer.
Men’s Top Sprinters
Jasper Philipsen – Alpecin-Deceuninck
The young Belgian, once derided as “Jasper the Disaster,” is the best sprinter in the world right now. Possessing the perfect combination of strength, racing know-how, and the patience required to win a bunch sprint, he has to be the favorite heading into any stage suited to sprinters. After a second-place finish at Roubaix, the reigning Tour de France green jersey will head into this year’s Grande Boucle as the heavy favorite to repeat.
Mads Pedersen – Lidl-Trek
Unlike most others on this list, Mads Pedersen is hardly a pure sprinter. Rather, the one-day specialist has shown that he’s most at home when launching attacks from a long way out. In fact, just a few weeks ago, he did something most people didn’t think was possible when he stayed with Mathieu van der Poel for some fifty kilometers in Ghent-Wevelgem, only to outsprint the Dutch superstar in the closing meters. There isn’t a team in the men’s peloton looking quite as strong as Lidl-Trek is right now, so expect Mads to compete for at least a few bunch sprint wins in his scheduled Tour and Vuelta appearances.
Tim Merlier – Soudal-Quick-Step
By the metric of the modern peloton, Tim Merlier is getting a bit long in the tooth. The 31-year-old from Flanders only has two Grand Tour stage wins to his name: one in the Giro and one in the Tour. But, as most of Merlier’s early career was focused on cyclocross racing, he very well could just be coming into his prime. In the last three seasons, Merlier has won the Belgian National Road Race and Brugge-De Panne, and, from 2022 to this year, three-peated in Nokere Koerse. Maybe, like a great sprinter does, he’s waiting until the perfect moment to launch.
Sprinters with something to prove
Mark Cavendish – Astana Qazaqstan
In 2024, Cav is sitting on the precipice between these two categories. The Manx Missile was coaxed out of retirement not once but twice with the promise of nabbing Eddy Merckx’s longstanding record of 34 Tour de France stage wins. And while his early-season returns have been anything but stunning, we’re talking about the greatest sprinter of all time here. And so, for that very reason, we have to consider Cav, a two-time Tour de France green jersey winner, in the upper echelon here.
Dylan Groenewegen – Jayco AlUla
Groenewegen has five Tour de France stage wins. But four of them came before 2020 and one in 2022. Much of that drought likely has to do with the nine-month ban he received from the UCI after it was determined he caused the crash that put Fabio Jakobsen in an induced coma for two days. Still, Groenewegen has shown form early this season with a ninth-place finish in Ghent-Wevelgem and a few strong stages in Paris-Nice and the UAE Tour.
Kaden Groves – Alpecin-Deceuninck
Groves, the four-time Vuelta a España stage winner and reigning green jersey champion of that race, will likely contest again for several of that race’s sprint stages. Groves has shown a predilection for hilly stages that tend to thin the herd over the course of the day, stages that are becoming increasingly common in the modern Grand Tour.
Arnaud Démare – Arkéa–B&B Hotels
Though he didn’t get any last year, Arnaud Démare has won ten Grand Tour stages: eight in the Giro and two in the Tour. He’s also a two-time points champion in the Giro. And though his spring campaign has been nothing to write home about, he’s an expert at positioning when the bunch really starts charging. Given as much, he should have more than a few opportunities to outsprint the bunch in this summer’s Tour.
Fabio Jakobsen – dsm firmenich PostNL
Like a few others on this list, Jakobsen’s results don’t necessarily match his strength. Easily one of the fastest sprinters in the peloton, Jakobsen will definitely find his way to the bunch in this year’s Giro and Tour, where he’ll try to add to his palmarès, which already counts five Vuelta stage wins. Of course, he hasn’t gotten one of those since 2021, so you either think he’s washed or he’s due.
Dark Horses
Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) - Outside of Mark Cavendish, Sam Bennett is the most decorated racer on this list. His palmarès includes five stage wins at the Vuelta, three at the Giro, and two at the Tour. He was also the Tour’s 2020 green jersey. And though his last two seasons have been hardly spectacular, it’s easy to predict that Sam Bennett could be in the mix for stage wins, especially after he was left off AG2R’s Tour roster last year.
Caleb Ewan (Jayco AlUla) - The man who was once a sure-fire bet to take a Grand Tour sprint stage—he’s won ten in his career—has fallen to the bottom of this pack simply because he hasn’t been able to nab a stage win since the 2021 Giro d’Italia. Of course, he’s still one of the strongest sprinters on Earth and always a threat to take a win, which, over the last three years, he’s been ever so close to. Despite his recent cold streak, Ewan is truly one of the riders you can never, ever count out.
Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) - After a historic stage win in the 2022 Giro d’Italia and a third-place finish behind Jasper Phillipsen and Mark Cavendish in stage 7 of last’s Tour de France, the Eritrean rider showed a lot of promise as a Grand Tour sprinter. Now confirmed for the Giro, we hope to see Girmay bring on the heat to the favorites.
Alberto Dainese (Tudor Pro Cycling) - While still early in his professional career, Dainese has already demonstrated his potential as a top-level sprinter and is definitely one to watch. In 2023, the Italian sprinter won two Giro stages and one Vuelta stage.
Women’s Top Sprinters
On the women’s side of the coin, there’s far less separation between the heavy favorites, the maybe-they-could, and the sprinters who might steal a stage here or there. And much of that has to do with the fact that there’s much more parity in general in the women’s WorldTour (which is why we should all be watching a lot more women’s races!). But there is still the cream of the crop and everyone else.
Lotte Kopecky – SD Worx-Protime
You could easily argue that Lotte Kopecky is the strongest bike racer in the world, regardless of gender. Her ability to sustain efforts and grind her opponents into dust behind her is matched only by the likes of Mathieu van der Poel. As she heads into this summer as the reigning Tour de France points champion, all eyes will be on the 28-year-old to rack up more stage wins.
Lorena Wiebes – SD Worx-Protime
It’s no secret that SD Worx is sitting on an embarrassment of riches right now. This is evidenced by the fact that Lotte Kopecky is racing on the same team as Lorena Wiebes, perhaps the strongest pure sprinter in the women’s peloton. The 25-year-old Dutchwoman has won Ronde van Drenthe four years in a row and just added to her palmarès with a Gent-Wevelgem victory last weekend. In a heads-up sprint, Wiebes is as tough as out there is.
Elisa Balsamo – Lidl-Trek
With wins at Brugge-De Panne and Trofeo Alfredo Binda and second-place finishes at Paris-Roubaix, Ronde van Drenthe, and Ghent-Wevelgem, the Italian one-day specialist is having a world-class spring campaign. She’s had a bit of success in stage races, nabbing a pair of wins at the 2022 Giro Donne and another pair at 2023’s Setmana Ciclista Valenciana. But at just 26 years old, Balsamo could be on the precipice of a breakout summer.
Charlotte Kool – dsm firmenich PostNL
At just 24 years old, Charlotte Kool seems to be hitting her prime. She won her first Grand Tour stage in last year’s Vuelta and was fighting for wins in Brugge-De Panne and Ghent-Wevelgem, where she finished second and fourth, respectively. She won the points classification in last year’s UAE Tour and should rack up plenty of points over the course of the summer.
Emma Norsgaard – Movistar
Though Norsgaard’s spring has been inauspicious at best, she’s always a tough out when it comes to sprints. With a pair of stage wins to her name (a Giro stage in 2021 and a Tour stage in 2023), she knows how to win from the bunch. She just needs to find her way to the front and put herself in a position to compete. If she can get there, there’s no doubt she’s got the legs.
Disruptors
Marianne Vos – Visma-Lease a Bike
So long as there’s a bike race, and so long as Marianne Vos is in that bike race, it’s just plain stupid to count her out. To list her palmarès would take all of the space this story has, so just accept the fact that she’s likely to be there at the end, whether the stage calls for a breakaway, a punchy climb, or a bunch sprint. And though she’s one of the women’s peloton’s elder stateswomen at age 36, with recent wins at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Dwars door Vlaanderen, she’s still proving week after week that she can race with—and beat—the best.
Elisa Longo Borghini – Lidl-Trek
Between Mads Pedersen, Elisa Balsamo, and Longo Borghini, Lidl-Trek’s cup runneth over with one-day talent. But to win one-day races, you need to be able to create and sustain attacks, and there are few better in the women’s bunch at that than Longo Borghini. Hardly a pure sprinter, she’ll need to use her well-honed racing acumen if she’s going to take a stage win.
Chloé Dygert – Canyon//SRAM
Dygert is back. After suffering a training setback late last year, stemming from an injury sustained earlier in 2023, Dygert returned to the peloton with a sixth-place finish in Brugge-De Panne. And while she’s known more for her time-trialing acumen than her pure sprint ability, she can put down and sustain boatloads of power. If she and her teammates can put her in the right position, look for the American star to steal a stage here or there.
Dark Horses
Chiara Consonni (UAE Team ADQ) - This is only Consonni’s second year at the WorldTour level, but she’s shown in recent times that she has the legs and the know-how to go elbow-to-elbow with the best of the bunch. Her best result is arguably a third-place finish in the points classification in this year’s UAE Tour. Look for her to steal a stage win or two (or three) as the summer progresses.
Rachele Barbieri (dsm firmenich PostNL) - For all of the success Rachele Barbieri has enjoyed on the track, she’s had little on the road. Her best finishes in major races are a pair of second-place finishes in stages in the Giro and UAE Tour and two fourth-place finishes in Tour stages. However, anyone who can make the kind of power Babieri is capable of making can and should not be counted out. Look for her to snag a sleeper win at some point this year.
You Might Also Like
