Greipel off to a flyer

GERMAN superstar Andre Greipel says there is plenty of fight left in the old dog yet and yesterday he proved it by winning a record 17th stage of the Santos Tour Down Under in Lyndoch.

Racing the TDU for the first time in four years, Greipel upstaged Australian Caleb Ewan and world champion Peter Sagan after 145km to take the ochre jersey on the opening day.

He is a two-time winner of the event and also holds the record for the most stage wins in its 20-year history, after first triumphing in Adelaide in 2008. “It’s nice when you are 35 and everybody tells you that you will get slower, but I don’t feel that and I really like to race my bike,” he said.

“We [Lotto-Soudal] were calculating we are probably the oldest team around here, but I think we have a lot of quality and experience, and you saw that today.

“A win is a win, and I’m happy it turned out like that to start the season.”

The TDU continues with a 148.6km Stage 2 from Unley to Stirling today, with Greipel holding a four-second lead.