André Greipel: My 10 best wins

(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

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André Greipel is one of the most successful sprinters ever in the peloton, whose 16-year career includes 156 wins. In 2016, the German powerhouse took Procycling through the most significant and memorable of his wins.

It’s a special sprint in Copenhagen – you need a good position because it’s quite a tricky circuit with a lot of corners in the final. You have to have a really good position already with three or four kilometres to the finish, otherwise you are too far back. I had good support from my team-mates Sebastian Siedler and Ralf Grabsch. Ivan Basso went for a solo attack but Siedler made a lot of moves to bring me into a good wheel and I had a good position.

Being the sprinter was what I wanted, and it was also the first year the Tour Down Under was in the ProTour. I came to Adelaide and it was like being at home somehow. I felt really good, I had no problem with the heat or with the distance. It was a really nice atmosphere. We’d also had our sponsor, Telekom, pull out in the winter. At the beginning of December, Bob Stapleton [team boss] said, ‘Okay guys, we can shut it down, or you have to take pay cuts.’ I was thankful Bob let the team live, and was supporting us to race. On one hand I was surprised to win four stages. On the other, I’d worked really hard for it and had good team support.

At the Tour Down Under in those days, a sprinter could win the race overall thanks to the bonus seconds. But you still had to climb well and I was able to do so. Winning the GC was also connected to a lot of suffering on my part. I didn’t target the GC the first time I won [in 2008] but the second time, in 2010, I did. I think I also would have been able to win in 2009 but I’d broken my shoulder.

As a sprinter you can’t plan to target the general classification at a stage race but towards the end of the race you start to go through scenarios that could happen. On the Willunga Hill stage you know you are going to suffer, and these days, with the finish at the top, it’s not possible for a sprinter to win. But I was lucky enough that the finish that year was down the other side. On the Willunga stage I was hanging on as long as possible, and my team-mates stayed with me and brought me back. We were pretty far back but Adam Hansen did a really nice job, chasing down the 20 or 25 guys in front and I could finish in the same time as the winner.

This was a hard stage with a climb and everybody put the sprinters under pressure. Philippe Gilbert was my team-mate at the time and he also attacked, which was planned. I knew I could climb a bit better than some of the other sprinters and was holding on. It was a hard last 25km but I had Jürgen Roelandts to work and with Sieberg I had a good guy to follow to put me in position. There were fewer riders left than usual, and with 1.3km to go there was a turn where it was important to be near the front.

I was happy because Hamburg is close to the city where I was born [Rostock], so a lot of family always come to support me there. I was always trying, trying and trying to win, and this time it worked. It’s hard to do a lead-out in Hamburg – keeping the team together is hard. Plus, the final straight is so narrow – when you are too far back you have no space to sprint. You have to be in the front and somehow be lucky to get the right wheel. This time I was lucky – Kristoff went early and I could get in behind him.

We had a great team in 2009 – I had a really good lead-out with Adam Hansen, Sieberg and Greg Henderson. Sieberg is my best friend and for positioning and lead-out he’s the most important rider. He makes the difference – he always makes the right decision at the right moment. We don’t have to communicate much during the race – we usually have a plan before the race – but he knows what to do, and we find each other in the last 20km. He’s so tall, it’s easy to find him in the bunch.

I love this win because it was a team win, which I was a big part of. The second-last day, I won in front of Jürgen Roelandts on a pretty tough stage with lots of climbs, including the Mur de Huy. At the end they really attacked to try and take the leader’s jersey from my team-mate Tony Martin but me and Bert Grabsch had to defend him; just two of us against all the others, riding on the front.

The stage win at Cap d’Agde in the 2012 Tour was a pretty painful one but everybody in the team got involved, which is why it’s a nice memory. Even Jurgen Van den Broeck, our GC guy, was pulling. There was a nasty climb near the finish, and Jurgen stayed with me, with Lars Bak, and could bring me back to the front group. We hadn’t planned on a bunch sprint, just to stay near the front for the climb. The rest was all suffering.

Winning the Nationals is always a big deal. It’s just me and Sieberg there for the team, and we say, ‘Okay, one of us has to win.‘ But we’re not the only small team – every other team is small as well. We pick out a few dangerous riders, and I’ll watch a few of them, and Sieberg will watch the others, so that if they go in a group we have to be there with them. If we’re still together at the end, we can make a one-man lead-out.

The first time I won, I wasn’t sure if the race was good for me because it was quite hilly but at the end we were both in a group of 18. Sieberg attacked with 4km to go with two others, and nobody was really chasing. But with one kilometre to go, they came back and I was able to win the sprint. It was really emotional – I’ve worn the national champion’s jersey three times and each time it has been a really emotional experience for me.

On the first road stage to Zeeland we were not just cruising around. If there had been no wind, we would have finished with 180 riders in the bunch but it was windy and rainy. We knew it would break up; that was the plan and we took responsibility for it after going through a city with lots of roundabouts then full crosswind. We took the initiative and broke the peloton. There were only 25 riders in front and three from our team – me, Sieberg and Gallopin. We were happy that Etixx were there to pull for Cavendish, and Froome was there as well, so they also helped us stay ahead. At the end, with 5km to go, I said to Sieberg, don’t go too early; just take me to Cav’s wheel.

But the Champs-Élysées was the one. That was my biggest win ever. It’s a difficult sprint to manage – positioning is everything but I came round the last turn in 8th or 9th position. Normally you can’t win from there but somehow I did, and I’m quite proud of that. I noticed that the surface of the road on the Champs seems to get worse and worse every year. You have to be very concentrated for this sprint – a lot of riders aren’t fully in the race any more but our team is always really focused. We rode all day on the front and deserved the win.

Edward Pickering is Procycling magazine's editor. He graduated in French and Art History from Leeds University and spent three years teaching English in Japan before returning to do a postgraduate diploma in magazine journalism at Harlow College, Essex. He did a two-week internship at Cycling Weekly in late 2001 and didn't leave until 11 years later, by which time he was Cycle Sport magazine's deputy editor. After two years as a freelance writer, he joined Procycling as editor in 2015. He is the author of The Race Against Time, The Yellow Jersey Club and Ronde, and he spends his spare time running, playing the piano and playing taiko drums.