they don't need to be any good at sprinting at all

You get exactly the same time for finishing 80th as finishing 8th, as long as the field finish in a pack. (As they do in most stages.) So the yellow jersey has nothing to do with sprinting at all.

They do have to be good in the mountains, but they don't usually win the King of the Mountains. That's because they're (again) different competitions, really.

Thing is, to win the yellow jersey you basically have to win big - ie open up big gaps on the rest of the field - in a few stages - maybe 2 or 3 over the entire Tour. These are usually mountain stages, because those are the tough ones where if you can get away from the field, you can break them and beat them by a few minutes - enough to win you the yellow jersey.

Whereas the King of the Mountains is won by doing well in a load of climbs - oin a mountiain stage there'll be a handful of them. You get points for winning each climb. So the King of the Mountains goes to hte most consistent climber over the whole Tour.

Winning each climbing takes a lot out of you, so you can't really focus on that *and* on winning the yellow jersey. To win the yellow, you spend most of the Tour, sitting safely in the pack, making sure no-one finishes miles ahead of you, waiting for your one or two moments in the entire tour to attack the rest of the pack.

Posted By: Tricky Hawes, Jul 18, 17:49:53