German ace back in form
A MONTH after the death of his beloved Mum and the day after a significant team setback, Andre Greipel returned to Tour Down Under supremacy.
The German sprint ace gave Lotto-Soudal a timely morale boost, winning the 145km opening stage from Port Adelaide to the Barossa town of Lyndoch.
It is the 17th Tour Down Under stage win for Greipel — a race record — and his first appearance at the Adelaide race since 2014.
While the hilly course profile in later Tour stages means he will not add to his 2008 and 2010 overall titles, Greipel yesterday showed emphatically that he is returning to form.
Last year was the first time he has not won a Tour de France stage since 2012 and the 35-year-old lamented he felt like he had lost his racing instincts. Then his mother, Gudrun, died at the start of December after a four-year battle with motor neuron disease.
On the eve of the Tour Down Under, Lotto-Soudal also announced young rider Bjorg Lambrecht was out of the race because of confusion over a rule change, relating to the biological passport testing regime.
That leaves Greipel’s team a man down for the Tour.
Greipel was outstanding yesterday, overhauling Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) on the line after the young Australian started his sprint too early. The German was asked if the stage win was dedicated to his mother’s memory. “My whole career is dedicated to her,” he said.
“She was my biggest supporter, all my career and I know she keeps looking.”
Greipel said that while he sympathised with Lambrecht, the team made the right call by taking him out of the team.
“It was a difficult time, the last five days, for our young guy,” he said. “We cannot do something about it, we have to stick to the rules.”
Ewan said Greipel clearly had recovered from last year’s form dip. “He might not have had the season he hoped (to), but he’s really hit the ground running here,” he said.
The Tour continues today with a 148km stage in the Adelaide Hills and Greipel could lose the overall lead on the climb to the Stirling finish.