Lotto Belisol sprinter sees more value in stage wins and UCI points
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Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) outsprints Andre Greipel for the stage win in Metz.(Image credit: AFP)
Andre Greipel will again lead Lotto in the sprints(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Approximately two weeks after Mark Cavendish won his first ever Grand Tour stage in the 2008 Giro, Andre Greipel did as well during stage 17 with Cavendish completing the High Road 1-2 finish.(Image credit: AFP)
Yet again Andre Greipel (Lotto) crosses the line first(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Greipel finished second in this year's competition, 41 points behind classification winner Peter Sagan. This hasn't enticed the German to put his efforts into the intermediate sprints and try to go one better in 2013.
"I like going for the stage wins and the points do count and you get the most at the finish line," the sprinter told Cyclingnews. "Maybe if I have enough points from stage wins then maybe, but in the end it is the points for the stage win that is important to the team."
For several years Greipel rode in the shadow of Mark Cavendish, at HTC, until he joined the Omega Pharma-Lotto team for 2011. He went on to win his first stage of the Tour de France that year, but this season's race was his best to date. Greipel also went on to win more races than any other professional in 2012, "it will be very difficult to repeat what I did," he says. "I never expected to do what I did, but it would be nice to do it again.
"I want to do well in the classics and obviously there is also the Tour. If I win one stage at the Tour then I will be happy. This year I won three and it will be hard to do it better, but I would like to try."
If he wants to match this season's haul then he'll have to get the better of his traditional foe in the sprints, Cavendish and his new Omega Pharma-Quickstep team. The Manxman matched Griepel and Sagan in the number of stage wins without the benefit of a leadout train.
It is likely to be the battle of the sprint trains in 2013. Greipel is confident of his Lotto Belisol team's ability going into the new season.
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"We haven't had any changes to the team from what we were last year. We have been able to work already together for a long time now so I think we should be strong."
The Lotto Belisol rider will start his season at the Tour Down Under on January 20 - with the People's Choice Classic criterium - before heading to Belgium for the Classics season.
