Andre Greipel's top 10 wins

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Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal)

André Greipel has taken 139 victories in his 12-year career, making him one of the most successful sprinters of a gifted generation, with more doubtless to come. The German powerhouse took Procycling's Edward Pickering 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 teammates 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. In the last kilometre I was following Graeme Brown [who came fourth] and I could come round him.

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 teammates 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. From there on, it was lined up and I was behind Sieberg, but we'd gone to the front too quickly, so I had to adjust - I let two guys between us – Daniel Oss and Cav.

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.

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.

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.

It's a hard sprint in Paris but in the sprint, you don't feel pain. You push the pedals, and of course it hurts, but you don't pay too much attention – you are so focused on doing your best and doing things right. You mustn't think about the win or the finish line, just the steps you need to take. You have to be a different person on the bike than off it. Everybody says I'm too gentle, but with 139 wins, I think I also have some elbows.

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.

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. I'd been on the front for 40km, and then our DS Brian Holm said, André, you can stop working now, and prepare for the sprint. Tony did the lead-out for me, I won the stage, and we'd done enough for him to win overall as well. I like it when people work for me but the focus for this stage was to defend another rider's jersey and it worked.