Griepel's difficult start to the season

T-Mobile's Andre Greipel has only been a pro for a few months, but that short time has been full of ups and downs. His biggest success this year were as a lead-out man for Olaf Pollack in the Tour of California, where Pollack won the last two stages.

But when he got back home, things started going bad. "It wasn't the 30 degree temperature difference between California and here that laid me low," he told the Schweriner Volkszeitung, "but the air-conditioning on the long flight home." The result: bronchitis, which was so severe it cost him his place in Tirenno-Adriatico.