Sprinters rejoice! Tour de France confirms major rule change that could transform green jersey battle
Cycling
The Tour de France has confirmed a major points classification rule change that could shift the green jersey battle firmly back towards the sprinters in 2026.
After a 2025 edition in which Jonathan Milan won green but Tadej Pogacar still finished second in the points classification, flat stages will now carry a bigger reward than in recent editions. Tour organiser ASO has confirmed to TV 2 Sport that the fastest rider on flat stages will now take 70 points, rather than the 50 available in previous years.
That change will apply on five stages at this year’s Tour de France. A further four more undulating stages will still offer 50 points to the first rider across the line, leaving a clearer distinction between the pure sprint days and the hillier stages where Classics riders, breakaway specialists and GC contenders can also collect heavily.
For the fast men, it is an obvious boost. For the green jersey battle, it could be one of the most important changes heading into the race.
Milan held off Pogacar in 2025
Milan ended the 2025 Tour de France as green jersey winner, capping a three-week campaign built around sprint wins, consistency and intermediate sprint points. Yet the final standings also showed why the classification had become more complicated than a pure sprint prize.
Pogacar finished second in the points competition, despite fighting for yellow rather than building his Tour around green. His ability to score heavily on hilly and mountain stages kept him close enough to leave the sprinters with little margin for error.
Biniam Girmay finished third, while Jasper Philipsen’s challenge was cut short early after a crash and abandon on stage 3. Philipsen had already shown his speed at the race before his exit, but one of the most obvious green jersey contenders was gone before the points battle had properly settled.
The new points structure gives riders such as Milan, Philipsen, Tim Merlier and Girmay a stronger platform on the stages most suited to them. It does not remove the importance of intermediate sprints or survival through the mountains, but it increases the value of winning the days where the peloton is expected to finish in a bunch sprint.
Jonathan Milan celebrates in the Green Jersey at the 2026 Tour de France
Green jersey fight gets sharper sprint focus
The 2026 Tour route contains seven flat stages, giving the sprinters several chances to shape the points classification before the race reaches its hardest terrain. With five of those stages now carrying 70 points for the fastest rider, the balance of the competition has shifted.
Milan will enter the race as the reigning green jersey winner, with Lidl-Trek again expected to back one of the most powerful sprint engines in the peloton. Philipsen has his own unfinished business after his early exit in 2025, while Girmay remains a dangerous all-round points threat after winning green in 2024 and staying in the hunt again last summer.
Merlier adds another pure sprint storyline, especially if the flatter stages become even more decisive in the battle for green. The rule change does not guarantee that a sprinter wins the jersey, but it gives the fast men a clearer route to doing so.
After a 2025 contest in which Pogacar finished second behind Milan, the Tour de France has given the sprinters a bigger prize on the days built for them.
Read also
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- He is boring
leedorney08-11-2026 - To Twoje przemyślenia te bla, bla :)
Dariusz08-11-2026 - Uwielbiam patrzeć, jak wyjeżdża na czoło peletonu i zaczyna się rzeź...Dariusz08-11-2026
- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- What a race! I didn't expect Vanthourenhout to collapse like that, and Wyseure did take the fight to Nys, but there was no doubt at the end. I also wonder what Aubin Sparfel would be capable of were he to race in the elites now. In the U23 ranks he is making good work of Giel Lejeune, who himself is among the better riders in the elites, and a top 10 contender in the big races (3rd at Kleebergcross, 8th at Berencross and 5th at Heerderstrand). In the French Cup, Sparfel is significantly better than Romain Debord (8th at Koppenbergcross and 10th at the Euros) and Rémi Lelandais (12th at Koppenbergcross and 19th at the Euros).
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
Loading
2 Comments