Jonathan Milan is determined to take the green jersey all the way to Paris, but would face a stiff challenge from "cycling rockstar" Tadej Pogačar over the coming difficult days on the Tour de France.
The Italian was speaking after winning stage 17 at Valence, where he sprinted to a second stage victory – this one in the pouring rain after a chaotic final. As well as the 50 winner's points, he had also chalked up 11 points earlier in the day after placing fifth in the intermediate sprint during the lumpy stage.
"Rockstar" he may be, but does Tadej Pogačar have his own theme tune? Milan does, according to team-mate Tom Skujiņš, and the Italian will likely be taking a little motivation from 'Johny on fire' over the coming days. Skujiņš hailed Milan after the stage, quipping, "he was, as they say, on fire"
Tour debutant Milan (Lidl-Trek) is now happy to be leading Pogačar by a healthy 72 points in the points classification, but acknowledged that holding on to the green jersey that he has worn since stage eight could be a challenge.
"We achieved 61 points today, so I'm really happy about that," Milan said after the stage. "It was one of our goals in the beginning of the day. I think it's never easy to have a real specific [goal] and then to achieve it, so I'm also really happy for that.
"In the next days, we will try to do our best, to take as many points as we can in the intermediate sprints and then, yeah, we will see."
He added: "With Tadej he's a cycling rock star, so we will also see with the points that he will achieve. From my side, I will just try to give my best to bring the green jersey as far as we can."
One of the key confounders for green jersey hopefuls in the sprint pack this year is the final stage in Paris, which sends riders three times over the hill at Montmartre in celebration of 50 years of finishing on the Champs-Elyșées. But it is a clear run on – ironically – the Champs itself that most Tour followers are expecting the sprinters to be denied.
Controlling the race over three narrow and tough little hills so close to the finish is going to be difficult – and then there is the matter of keeping up with the inevitable puncheur ambushes that take place.
"It will be a bit more complicated to control," Milan said. "It will be a different scenario. I already spoke with the guys who participated in the Olympic Games last year, and they said that it was a bit chaotic already with the 50, 60 riders that arrived during the final. So, yeah, for sure it will be a big, big fight to take this climb in the first positions."
Milan said he wanted to concentrate on the coming days – take it "day by day" in the parlance of the Tour – but Skujiņš said he was already anticipating a major battle, with Lidl-Trek riders ending up "sprinting in pairs" in an attempt to prevent Pogačar from hoovering up points by default.
Milan's Lidl-Trek sports director Steven De Jongh told reporters that Milan would attempt to gain more points over the coming days, but cautioned that the green jersey was far from won.
"No, I think Tadej can still pick up a lot of points in the next few days. Plus, in Paris, he can pick up 50 points [by winning], so it's not in the pocket," he said.
