Bora-Hansgrohe's Peter Sagan took to social media on Friday evening to congratulate Deceuninck-QuickStep's Sam Bennett on winning the green jersey at this year's Tour de France, seemingly conceding the competition to the Irishman, despite the fact that Sagan is still mathematically capable of winning the jersey.
The seven-time green jersey winner took the step of offering his congratulations on Instagram, but said that he would nevertheless be giving it everything to try to win the final stage of the Tour on the Champs-Elysées in Paris on Sunday, which could mean that he'll even forego trying for the intermediate sprint during stage 21, although he will need to defend his second place to CCC Team's Matteo Trentin.
After taking three more points than Sagan on stage 19 on Friday, Bennett now leads the Slovakian in the competition by 55 points – with 319 points to 264 – while Trentin is in third place, a further 14 points back.
"We gave our best, and I will certainly give it my all to try to win in Paris," Sagan wrote on Instagram. "Congratulations to Sam Bennett for his green jersey in this Tour de France."
Saturday's stage 20 – an individual time trial – offers 20 points for the winner, 17 for second and 15 for third, going down to one point for 15th place, although neither Sagan, Bennett nor Trentin are likely to be able to finish in the top 15 on the stage.
Sunday's flat, 122km final stage from Mantes-la-Jolie to the Champs-Elysées in Paris offers 50 points for the stage winner, 30 points for second and 20 for third, down to two points for 15th place.
On the third lap of eight of the Champs-Elysées, stage 21's only intermediate sprint offers the same points structure as the finish of the time trial on Saturday – i.e. 20 points for first, down to one for 15th place. It means that there are a maximum of 70 points available on Sunday, with 69 points currently separating the top three riders in this year's green-jersey competition.
