Cycling

Tour de France Polka Dot Jersey Standings, Odds, and Predictions

July 20, 2023 7:44 am

The Tour de France polka dot jersey symbolises the best climber of this Grand Tour and with points awarded for the top X riders to cross the summit of each categorised climb the one with the most points at the end of the race is crowned King of the Mountains. The 2023 race for the Tour de France polka dot jersey is shaping up to be one of the most exciting categories out there with a bunch of riders still fancying their chances to wear this jersey on the streets of Paris come July 23rd. Here are the Tour de France polka dot jersey standings, odds and prediction we think is worth considering.

Polka Dot Jersey
US’ Neilson Powless of EF Education-EasyPost celebrates on the podium in the red polka-dot jersey for best climber after stage 9 of the Tour de France cycling race, a 182,4 km race from Saint-Leonard-de-Noblat to Puy de Dome, France, Sunday 09 July 2023. This year’s Tour de France takes place from 01 to 23 July 2023. BELGA PHOTO DIRK WAEM – Photo by Icon sport

Tour de France Polka Dot Jersey Standings

The battle for the Tour de France polka dot jersey is mightily close and right now very unpredictable. The two main contenders for the Tour de France yellow jersey are still in the picture to also be crowned King of the Mountains. However, others also fancy their chances of being recognised as the best climber of the 2023 Tour.

Here are the top 5 riders in the Tour de France Polka Dot Jersey Classification after stage 17:

1)  G. Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) 88 points

2) F. Gall (AG2R Citroen Team) 82 points

3) J. Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 81 points

4) N. Powless (EF Education-Easypost) 58 points

5) T. Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 49 points

As things stand and with not many of categorised climbs left to conquer realistically only the top 3 ff those 5 riders are firmly still in the race for this jersey. All this makes things exciting every day when the cyclist hit the uphill.

Tour de France Polka Dot Jersey Odds

Here are the top 5 riders placed based on their odds to become the 2023 Tour de France King of the Mountains:

Giulio Ciccone 2/5 (1.40) was 3/1 (4.00)

Felix Gall 3/1 (4.00) was 11/1 (12.00)

Jonas Vingegaard 5/1 (6.00) was 12/5 (3.40)

Tadej Pogacar 100/1 (101.00) was 9/4 (3.25)

Neilson Powless 100/1 (101.00) was 12/1 (13.00)

It is somewhat unexpected that the 2 main favourites to win Tour de France this year are not locked 1st and 2nd as favourites for the polka dot jersey too. Could, Pogacar win 3 jerseys – yellow, polka dot and white? Here’s what we think and our brave prediction for the King of the Mountains race.

 

Tour de France Mountains 2 scaled
Slovenian Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates and Danish Jonas Vingegaard of Jumbo-Visma pictured in action during stage 9 of the Tour de France cycling race, a 182,4 km race from Saint-Leonard-de-Noblat to Puy de Dome, France, Sunday 09 July 2023. This year’s Tour de France takes place from 01 to 23 July 2023. BELGA PHOTO POOL BERNARD PAPON – Photo by Icon sport

Tour de France Polka Dot Jersey: Our Prediction

Picking one of the 2 big guns Vingegaard or Pogacar seemed to be on everyone’s lips at the end of week 2. However, we went against the grain here and our choice for this year’s Tour de France polka dot jersey winner fell on Giulio Ciccone when he was only 3rd in the standings for this jersey and with 3/1 (4.00) odds to win it. The Italian is the leader of his team Lidl-Trek, so he has strong backing. He made some decisive gains during the last 2 days in the Alps and right now Ciccone looks in a pole position for this jersey. He still will need to win points with the next 2 riders in the standings close behind, but we think Ciccone has it in him to do so.

Ciccone is a proven climber and he was crowned King of the Mountains during his home Giro d’Italia back in 2019. Considering his ability to attack really steep climbs that are also short in distance and the fact that those are the type of climbs for most of week 3 we back Ciccone to win the Tour de France polka dot jersey.

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About the author

Iskra

Iskra had a promising, at least she believed so, tennis and volleyball careers as a junior but a series of injuries ended her hopes to become a professional athlete very early.

Instead, she focused all her energy on her other passion, writing. For over a decade, Iskra had been a freelance sports writer. Football, basketball and tennis are the main fields of her expertise.