André Greipel (Team HTC - Columbia) opens the victory champagne.(Image credit: Riccardo Scanferla)
Stage winner André Greipel (Team HTC - Columbia) can't wait to uncork the bubbly.(Image credit: Riccardo Scanferla)
André Greipel (Team HTC - Columbia) celebrates his stage victory on the podium.(Image credit: Riccardo Scanferla)
André Greipel has announced that he will join Omega Pharma-Lotto for the 2011 season. The German sprinter has vied for supremacy with Mark Cavendish at the HTC-Columbia team for the past number of seasons and his departure at the end of this campaign was seen as inevitable.
“In recent weeks there has been much speculation about my impending move to another team,” Greipel wrote on his website. “Now it is confirmed. From 1 January 2011, I will be riding with Omega Pharma-Lotto printed on my jersey.”
Greipel is pleased to be joining a new team. “The sponsors and management have a clear vision for the further development of the team, which is consistent with my own personal goals,” he said. “We have agreed our sporting and economic terms and the contract will be signed in the coming days.”
Greipel has taken 16 wins thus far this season, including a stage at the Giro d’Italia, and he won four stages at last year’s Vuelta a España. He was deeply disappointed to miss out on a place at the Tour de France to Mark Cavendish, although the Manx rider rewarded HTC-Columbia’s decision with five stage victories.
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Barry Ryan was Head of Features at Cyclingnews. He has covered professional cycling since 2010, reporting from the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and events from Argentina to Japan. His writing has appeared in The Independent, Procycling and Cycling Plus. He is the author of The Ascent: Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and the Rise of Irish Cycling’s Golden Generation, published by Gill Books.
