So far, André Greipel has only been the focus of the team presentation.
Photo: AFP / Anne-Christine Poujoulat
At the start of the Tour de France it seemed as if the sprinters would have it easy on this Tour de France. At least the ones who came at all. The competition was manageable. Many fast drivers had not even bought the ticket for the tour. Germany’s ace Pascal Ackermann stayed at home because of his teammate Emanuel Buchmann’s podium plans and Peter Sagan’s wish to win the green jersey again. The Dutch Dylan Groenewegen and Fabio Jacobsen took each other out of the race in the horror crash in Katowice. The Colombian Fernando Gaviria and the French Arnaud Demare were also sacrificed to the classification ambitions of their respective captains Thibaut Pinot from France and Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia). The way seemed clear for oldie André Greipel to finally get his twelfth stage win in France.
But immediately the opening section – the course is quite suitable for sprinters – turned from the hoped-for triumphal stage into a hell valley for the Rostock. He fell on the streets, slippery from the rain, suffering abrasions and a severe blow to his knee. That had consequences. On the following days, Greipel was already happy when he made it from start to finish without falling out of the time limit. “The last few days have been just uncomfortable,” he said to the “nd” afterwards. The wounds on the knee were sewn with four stitches. The knee joint itself was twisted. But Greipel doesn’t talk about the pain. In the spring he suffered a broken shoulder without complaint. Now he is slowly becoming optimistic. “Fortunately, cycling is a sport that doesn’t put as much force on the joints. In the last few days I was able to recover a little. And we also have good physios, ”he said. Cyclists are probably the only high-performance athletes who even think about hoping for recovery while competing. The 38-year-old’s experience from 15 years as a professional will certainly help.
On Tuesday, after the mountain arrival in Orcieres-Merlette, you saw a smile in the eyes of the veteran for the first time on this tour; Anyway, you can’t tell more of your state of mind because of the mask requirement right after the finish line. “Today is the first day that I’m a normal racing driver again,” said Greipel. From day to day he hopes that it will get better and that he will be able to throw himself into the fray again for the mass sprints, of which he won four at the 2015 Tour.
For this year’s 5th stage between Gap and Pricas on Wednesday he was still skeptical. “The stage is not easy. There will probably be a mass sprint. But I don’t know if it’s something for a sprinter in my weight class, ”said Greipel, looking at the hilly profile of the last few kilometers.
Sprinters in his weight class, i.e. pure powerhouses, have a really difficult time this year. There are hardly any classic mass sprint stages left. The first week, for years a kind of roll-in week with flat stages on the assembly line, has changed due to the television requirements. More drama: the route planners built in more mountains for more exciting events. At the same time, the types of drivers are also changing: The climbers are increasing their sprint ability, as the famous start of the Slovenian Primoz Roglic proved on Tuesday. On the other hand, sprinters are becoming more and more mountain-proof. Caleb Ewan, for example, the new-generation Australian sprint star and winner of the third stage, is also fast on uphill straights. The points evaluation, once a playground for mass sprinters, has become more of an evaluation for all-rounders thanks to the Slovak Peter Sagan.
So Greipel did not have as many opportunities as initially hoped to get his twelfth stage win and thus to get on a level with Erik Zabel. And if it doesn’t work out beforehand with the few chances, he may even have to hope until the final stage in Paris. After all, he has already won there twice.
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