Says all the doping stories have made him “sad”
Andre Greipel finished this season with his head held high after winning 19 races. The German who is currently enjoying time off the bike isn’t all that happy with cycling as doping stories in the past weeks have tarnished the sport yet again.
“Every rider needs to put the bicycle away for a while,” said Greipel of his holiday. “There isn’t only the physical fatigue after a long season but also the mental fatigue because the constant need and pressure to perform. I went to the Maldives with the family to recuperate. Have I thought a lot about my victories? Not exactly, because cycling was dominated the past month by the doping problems.
“It makes me sad that people don’t make a difference between the riders. For those who work hard, as well individually as in the team, it isn’t fair to confront them all the time with the stories which they don’t have anything to do with. I know for myself that I take my sport very seriously and that I work very hard to achieve my goals. To make everything as transparent as possible I even disclose my training data.”
Greipel finally participated in his first Tour de France last season. He won a stage on debut but this year bettered it by going on to win three stages.
“As far as the past season is concerned I think I have had my best season ever. As well quantitatively as qualitatively I’m very satisfied and apart from that all my victories are spread over the whole year. As a team we were present every time and we have taken our responsibility in every race. We now have to set new goals, but I’ll keep those to myself for a while. Since last week I’ve started to build up to 2013. I do that mainly on the cross bike and mountain bike. Through the teambuilding and the training camp in December we build up to the start of the season.”
The 30 year old missed the route unveiling for next year’s 100th Tour de France. He has been told about the flat opening stage which gives sprinters the opportunity to wear the yellow jersey but says from past experience it might not be that easy.
“There are speculations about a bunch sprint in the first stage, so the winner could conquer the yellow jersey, but considering the difficulty of the Critérium International, which also takes place in Corsica, it isn’t that clear-cut that that stage will end with a sprint. But if there is a sprint, we will of course be present.”