Hopeful German cyclists
July 15, 2014
The green jersey at the Tour de France has been synonymous with German cycling. While the yellow jersey garners the most attention, it's in the points classification where the German riders have traditionally thrived in the world's biggest road cycling event.
Only Jan Ulrich, in 1997, has donned the yellow shirt, as the overall winner. The green shirt, a reward for the winner of the points classification that is generally reserved for sprint riders, was worn at six consecutive events by Erik Zabel between 1996 and 2001.
East Berlin-born Zabel was the leading German sprinter for almost a decade and with a strong sprint background, he achieved almost all of his success on flat ground. The same trend has followed at the 2014 Tour: Germans have shone on flat ground with Marcel Kittel winning three stages and Andre Greipel winning stage six on similar territory.
Tony Martin has bucked the trend, as a time-trialist, and he was the third German to win a 2014 Tour stage on Sunday in the medium-range mountain terrain.
Both Kittel and Greipel have faint hopes of winning the green jersey, also known as maillot vert in French, as they trail 24-year-old Slovakian Peter Sagan by some distance. Sagan, the 2012 and 2013 overall green jersey winner, leads the point's classification with 287 points, 139 ahead of the third-placed Kittel. Greipel, meanwhile, is 191 points further back in the standings.
However, the unpredictability of the physically-demanding 3,663.5 km journey, which began in the English city of Leeds over a week ago, is what makes the Tour de France the pinnacle of world cycling.
After 10 stages, last year's winner Chris Froome has dropped out through injury, as has famed-sprinter Mark Cavendish and Alberto Contador. The 2012 winner Bradley Wiggins of Team Sky won't even be competing at the event. Italian Vincenzo Nibali has led the general classification throughout and holds a two-minute upper-hand over Team Sky's Richie Porte.
German challenges
Germany's cycling boom after Ulrich's high-profile triumph has slowly receded. Kittel, in an interview with German magazine Spiegel Online, acknowledged the need for structural reforms in the German cycling system and the importance of gaining improved sponsorship and commercial deals for the sport.
Kittel told the German newspaper Stuttgarter-Zeitung, "Successes like at the Tour de France triggered a large media hype in the 1990s - and presumably, a main focus for the evening news shows. Today, you can barely see the race itself on public TV channels."
On Tuesday, Germany's lone Tour de France team agreed a five-year-deal with cooking system Bora. The company also reaffirmed its focus on helping the team develop young German riders.
Kittel has carried the weight of professional cycling on his shoulders for some time. The 26-year-old, from Arnstadt in East Germany, was born into a sporting family, his father a sprint cyclist and his mother a high jumper.
He won four stages of the Tour de France last year and earned one of the biggest honors in his discipline, wearing the yellow jersey after his first stage win in Bastia. He's only one of 14 Germans to ever wear the maillot jaune.
Kittel is not alone in representing Germany at the Tour de France though: Greipel, from Rostock, East Germany, won the sixth stage of the tournament - his sixth-ever individual stage win at the Tour.
The 31-year-old is nearing the end of his career, but has been a stalwart of German road cycling following the retirement of high-profile names like Ulrich. The sprinter was a late bloomer, winning his first Tour de France stage only three years ago, but has also enjoyed success in other pan-European events.
Then there is Cottbus-born Martin, a three-time World champion and Olympic silver medalist, who excels in the time-trial discipline. The 29-year-old set the success trend in motion for pupils of the Erfurt sports school - one that Kittel also attended in his teenage years. Martin has contrasting strengths to Kittel and Greipel, earning his stage win on hilly terrain this year.
Tuesday's rest day breaks up the first leg of the tour, as it enters a predominantly mountainous stage. This presents leader Nibali with a real chance of increasing his overall lead. For Martin, however, it presents the chance of further glory until the sprinters return to the spotlight. All the while, Germany's status in the sport continues to grow, albeit slowly.