Two-time champion Andre Greipel has a different ambition in Tour Down Under return
SPRINT gun Andre Greipel is back in Adelaide for the Tour Down Under, a race he has twice won but hasn’t contested since 2014, and he’s on a scouting mission for more stage wins.
TWO-TIME Tour Down Under champion Andre Greipel’s chances of winning a third title diminished once race director Mike Turtur added an uphill Willunga Hill finish in 2012.
Two years later the powerful sprint gun temporarily ended his love affair with SA after his seventh consecutive race at the Tour Down Under, only to return to rekindle the flame for this year’s 20th edition.
He is now armed with the hope of winning the fast-finishing stages.
Grepeil, 35, and his righthand man for five of the Tour Down Under races from 2010 to 2014, German compatriot Marcel Sieberg, 35, are on a scouting mission for Lotto-Soudal before the rest of the team arrives early next week.
Greipel unveiled his new Ridley bike to lead Sieberg on a ride from the city to Outer Harbour from 8am on Saturday.
Looking extremely lean after a team pre-season camp in Spain last month Greipel claimed he wanted to continue to win stages, holding a record 16 wins since his first time in SA in 2008.
He has stern competition to achieve that goal with Australian sprint sensation Michelton-Scott’s Caleb Ewan, 23, — a winner of six stages in 2016 and 2017 — looking to be one of Greipel’s main rivals after winning the national criterium championship in Victoria last week.
“My main goal is not (the general classification) of the Tour Down Under but I’m not here to give away sprint races,’’ Greipel said.
“For sure we have a good team for the lead outs and for the sprints and I want to be there.
“I just want to try to adapt to the time difference now.
“Caleb (Ewan) will be there, (Elia) Viviani (a 2016 Olympic Games Italian gold medallist from Quick-Step Floors), there’s a lot of good sprinters here.”
Greipel has had 144 pro race wins and is lauded as one of the finest cyclists from this generation.
His first WorldTour stage win was at the Tour Down Under in 2008 where he claimed Stirling-Hahndorf before victory in three more stages of the coveted event and the GC.
Greipel loves the familiarity of the race which he said made him realise his capabilities as a world class sprinter a decade ago.
“You don’t need to move with your suitcases in different hotels and yeah it’s a really nice atmosphere on the bike and also on the side of the roads,’’ Greipel said.
“The weather is nice and people are nice and cycling is one of the main sports over here and it’s great to be a part of it.”