Kiwi in famous Le Tour jersey
Dion Smith will be sporting a polka dot skinsuit in the team time trial, becoming New Zealand’s first rider to don the famous King of the Mountains jersey at the Tour de France.
The 25-year-old is the early leader in the King of the Mountains classification standings, where points are awarded to the first rider to reach the top of designated climbs. The amount of points awarded depends on the severity of the climbs.
Smith earned the famous jersey after getting in the breakaway alongside Michael Gogl and Sylvain Chavanel and beating the pair to the solitary point on offer yesterday.
‘‘It’s pretty special to be on the podium. I’m the first Kiwi for the polka dot jersey. To represent the country and Wanty-Groupe Gobert this way, it’s very big,’’ Smith said at the end of a memorable second stage.
After achieving the team’s goal of obtaining the King of the Mountains point, Smith rejoined the bunch in a bid to save his energy for the next few stages. He crossed the finish line in 42nd place and is now 34th overall.
He will wear the polka dot jersey in the stage three team time trial, when two other New Zealand riders are expected to come to the fore. Both Patrick Bevin’s BMC Racing and Jack Bauer’s Mitchelton-Scott are two of the favourites for the TTT.
‘‘The plan this morning was to get the jersey, or at least score a point, then sit up and wait for the bunch to save some energy for the coming days. For sure I’ll keep it tomorrow after the team timetrial and the next stage I should keep it too,’’ Smith said.
‘‘We have a GC rider, Guillaume Martin, so the team time-trial is pretty important for the team. The objective is to have everyone as fresh as possible. That’s the main reason why I came back to the bunch. It was a difficult decision but it was a team order and, for sure, I do agree with them.’’
Stage two was won by Peter Sagan, the world champion edging a bunch sprint which featured just 15 riders.