André Greipel has announced that he will retire at the end of the season. The 39-year-old, who is currently competing in the Tour de France, made the announcement ahead of the penultimate stage.
The German is one of the most successful sprinters of all time, having won 11 stages in the Tour de France during his career. He also won seven stages in the Giro d'Italia and four in the Vuelta a España.
"So tomorrow’s stage will definitely be my last in the Tour de France and after 2021 I will also retire, so the end of the year will be a point at the end of my career," Greipel said in a video message posted by his Israel Start-Up Nation team.
"I’m super happy with what I achieved together with my teammates and the staff around me. I was always happy with the support that I had around. Without my teammates, the staff, and of course my family I wouldn’t have achieved what I have," he added.
"I’m not looking back in anger. I’m looking to the future with a lot of happiness because I can do what I want. I can suffer when I want and of course, spend a lot of time with my family. I wish everyone a good time in the pro peloton. I hope to somehow stay in cycling.
"I’m really thankful for everyone around me in my career. My family, my trainers, and everybody who was part of my career. I’ll see you around. Ciao, ciao."
Greipel moved into the top echelons of the sport with T-Mobile in 2006 and won his first Grand Tour stage in 2008. His consistency was phenomenal, and between 2008 and 2017 he won Grand Tour stages in every three-week race he started. He left HTC-Highroad at the end of 2011 because of a lack of space with both himself and Mark Cavendish on the team but he enjoyed the most successful period of his career soon after at Lotto-Soudal, where his win rate was so high that virtually the entire team was based around him for several seasons.
His time on the Belgian team ended badly due to a fallout with an individual within the management structure and a move to Arkea soon followed. By that point, the wins had started to drop off with bad luck, age, and illness playing their parts.
He signed for Israel Start-Up Nation in 2020 and re-signed again with the team at the start of this year. Over his long career, he won 158 professional races but it was also his attitude and behavior that impressed both fans and teammates the most.
