German Gorilla carries Australian form into European season
André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) carried the winning form that saw him take three stages of the Santos Tour Down Under into the first stage of the Tour Méditerranéen, between Limoux and Gruissan, as he won the bunch sprint. The German ‘Gorilla’ beat Italian Matteo Pelucchi (IAM Cycling) into second place at the end of the 141km stage, with Frenchman Maxime Daniel (Sojasun) third.
The break of the day came from Will Routley (Accent Jobs-Wanty), Théo Vimpère (BigMat-Auber 93) and Thomas Vaubourzeix (La Pomme Marseille), who managed to escape the peloton in the early part of the stage, but were finally reeled in with ten kilometres to go.
“Today Olivier Kaisen and Gert Dockx deserve a special mention,” said Greipel. They rode on the head of the peloton all day long. None of the other teams wanted to help and so Dockx and Kaisen made it a hard day for many others.
“For most of the stage we had a backwind, so the cold wasn’t that bad,” the German sprinter added. “Because the time gaps weren’t passed on quite as well, it wasn’t easy to have an idea of the size of the gap. The preparation of the sprint was a bit difficult, because the signalisation wasn’t clear, but luckily I could finish the team’s work. The next stage is a time trial and I don’t know what will happen the following days. It’s most important that I don’t get ill and get sufficient competition kilometres. If nobody wants to help, we won’t do all the work.”
Result stage 1
1. André Greipel (Ger) Lotto-Belisol
2. Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) IAM Cycling
3. Maxime Daniel (Fra) Sojasun
4. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) RadioShack-Leopard
5. Jürgen Roelandts (Bel) Lotto-Belisol
6. Mathieu Drujon (Fra) BigMat-Auber 93
7. Klaas Lodewyck (Bel) BMC Racing Team
8. Moreno Hofland (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling
9. Thor Hushovd (Nor) BMC Racing Team
10. Raymond Kreder (Ned) Garmin-Sharp
Overall standings after stage 1
1. André Greipel (Ger) Lotto-Belisol
2. Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) IAM Cycling
3. Maxime Daniel (Fra) Sojasun
4. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) RadioShack-Leopard
5. Jürgen Roelandts (Bel) Lotto-Belisol
6. Mathieu Drujon (Fra) BigMat-Auber 93
7. Klaas Lodewyck (Bel) BMC Racing Team
8. Moreno Hofland (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling
9. Thor Hushovd (Nor) BMC Racing Team
10. Raymond Kreder (Ned) Garmin-Sharp