Originally Posted by
canklecat
Another factor that I didn't realize until I checked all the stats, Sagan was still way ahead in peloton standings (not points) over Bennett, while Bennett may have pulled off the hat trick of being both the green jersey and in the running for the Lanterne Rouge.
So Bennett was struggling just to make the cut every stage, while Sagan was choogling away like a freight train, as usual. He was a step behind where milliseconds count, and as others noted seemed to lack his usual extrasensory perception for picking the right wheel to follow. Sagan was usually very close, while also seeming to be stronger and more consistent overall.
Anyway, this was one of the most interesting and exciting TdFs I can remember.
GC doesn't count and is irrelevant for sprinters. For the green jersey it's about picking up points on the intermediate sprints and winning or being thereabouts on the sprint stages.
Bennett wasn't 'struggling to make the cut' on every stage but he would have been conscious of the cut on mountain stages and in the ITT and would try to minimise his effort while staying inside the time limit. He was something like 4 mins inside the cut on the TT but he was saving himself for the following day's sprint in Paris and was never going to be a contender , like a lot of others, in stage 20 anyway.
Sagan wasn't 'stronger or more consistent' than Bennett they were both going for stage wins and the green jersey. Bennett won two stages to Sagan's 0 and the jersey by over 90 points. Neither was interested in GC, in fact a high GC placing would have made it more difficult for a guy like Sagan to get to get into breaks and possibly win a stage.
Just because he finished 30 mins down on some mountain stages doesn't mean he was 'struggling'.