Four-time green jersey winner Sean Kelly believes that Bora-Hansgrohe's Peter Sagan will once again be a strong contender for points at this year's Tour de France, but when it comes to predicting the most successful sprinter in the race, the Irishman is unclear on the situation They feel that.

The number of sprint stages in this year's Tour is limited, with Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) saying there are up to six days between Nice and Paris that are suitable for sprints. This year's Tour has many routes that favor climbers, and even some of the intermediate stages are interspersed with tough final stages and climbs that will separate the pure sprinters from the peloton. Given the stop-starts the riders have endured this season, Kelly believes it will be difficult to predict who the most successful sprinters will be.

"Once the race starts, I would say Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quickstep) and Caleb Yuan are the fastest. There haven't been many races in the last few weeks, so we haven't had a proper test to see who is going strong," Kelly told Cycling News on the eve of the first stage.

Kelly also put Sagan and Elia Viviani (Cofidis) in the mix, neither of whom has won a race this year. Sagan enters the race as the record holder for the green jersey with seven titles, while Viviani has not won a race since moving to Cofidis earlier this year. The Italian's last victory came last August at the Cyclassics Hamburg.

"After Bennett and Ewan, we have Sagan. Originally, he wasn't supposed to be in the Tour, but Viviani is there and it will be interesting to see how he performs. This year's Tour is pretty nasty for sprinting, and for Viviani, it could be a mental battle, as he has not had a winning season all year. For Viviani, it could be a mental battle because he hasn't won all year." Can he run right in the Tour and get his season back on track?

Kelly mentioned Giacomo Nizzolo as another rider to watch: the NTT sprinter has been in great form all year, winning stages at the Tour Down Under and Paris-Nice, and winning both the Italian National Road Championships and the European Road Championships.

"I've been riding for a long time," Nizzolo said.

"You wouldn't normally say that Nizzolo is faster than Bennett or Ewan. There are still a lot of questions, though, because there have been so few races."

When it comes to the battle for the green jersey, Kelly can also imagine a title fight between GC riders for the first time since Laurent Jalabert won the title in 1995.

"I expected Sagan to go to the Giro this year, and that was the plan. In the past few years, Sagan has won the green jersey with ease. If you look at the route this year for the sprinters, it could be a difficult route for Sagan.

"If the sprinters want to build any kind of advantage, they need to go for the intermediate sprints in the race. Otherwise, a non-sprinter could win the jersey. Sagan's best is yet to be seen this year, but that does not mean that he cannot win not only the jersey but also a stage win after the first few stages.

One rider who could end Sagan's unbeatable run is Wout Van Aert. The Belgian is a good climber and undoubtedly fast in sprint finishes, but his front-line duties on the Jumbo Visma will theoretically work for Primoz Roglic and Tom Dumoulin.

"I'm anxious to see what VanArt does, but it depends on how much freedom he's given and his team assignment," Kelly agrees.

"If the wind picks up or there are splits, he could be tasked with those duties. But he has the ability to win a stage, scoring points in a sprint or in an undulating intermediate stage.

"A rider like (UAE Team Emirates') Alexander Kristoff will be looking for stage wins, but I don't think he will be fighting for points every day. I don't know how many more sprinters will make it to Paris. If the Tour does too, it will be very tough for the sprinters. Sagan is the best candidate for the green jersey, though," Kelly said.

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