What happens when you prepare a sprint for a sprinter who doesn't show up? Well, if you're T-Mobile's André Greipel, you go ahead and win the sprint yourself. That's what he did on Wednesday, winning the first stage of the Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt for his first T-Mobile victory and taking the leader's jersey. "Actually I was supposed to lead for Olaf Pollack," said the 23-year-old, "but he didn't show up, so I pulled on through."
Neither the team management nor Pollack was unhappy with the change of plans, which led to the team's only third win this year. "Going towards the finish line, the street got very narrow and a 'traffic jam' developed," wrote Pollack on his personal website. "I got stuck behind André, Danilo Hondo and René Haselbacher, couldn't get by and finally finished fourth. I was happy for André, he's a good guy."
