Andre Greipel

[Eric8-A]

With the switch from HTC over to Lotto for the 2011 season, are we now beginning to see more of Andre. When he was at HTC, he was mainly used as a sprinter for the races where Cavendish wasn't at. Usually smaller types of races. This year, he's done Milan San Remo where he was 33rd, Flanders, where he finished 76th and today Roubaix, where he finished 21st. Considering that this is the first time he's done these races, I would say those are pretty good results from him. Can the staff over at HTC be saying "maybe we should have taken him to these races" He's clearly done better than Cavendish at these races. He doesn't have the same number of wins he had last season of course. Can you see him improving his classics pedigree?

 

[function]

He's been racing really well and definitely a change from the normal sprinting formula. Check out his win in stage 1 of De Panne, aggressive racing in the break and too the win.I like it! I also commend Cavendish for trying to race outside his formula too.

 

[spalco]

Did he even want to do these races previously? I would think HTC would've had no problem letting him go to RVV and P-R if wanted to (probably not M-SR though).

 

[L'arriviste]

He might not be cleaning up this year but I'm really liking this Greipel Version 2.0 a lot more than before. He's lost a bit of weight and a bit of the pressure of being a pure sprinter. He gets into breaks and works for the team. He could do a lot more in the Classics in years to come.

 

[M Sport]

Did he even want to do these races previously? I would think HTC would've had no problem letting him go to RVV and P-R if wanted to (probably not M-SR though).

Cav did MSR and RVV so Greipel wasn't allowed to start those two, I'm sure he would have wanted to. Can't remember whether Cav tried to do Roubaix last year.

 

[hrotha]

He's proving he's more versatile than many people thought, and a true team player, but I have to wonder if Lotto isn't wasting his talents.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

It will be back to sprinting from now on, for the rest of the season.

 

[movingtarget]

I still think he is more suited to winning bunch sprints in stage races but there is no reason his classics results can't keep improving.

 

[roundabout]

While it's nice that Greipel isn't a deadweight for the classics unlike a certain other rider touted to do well in Roubaix etc in the future, his main job is still sprinting and he hasn't been particularly impressive at that this year.

 

[Angliru]

I still think he is more suited to winning bunch sprints in stage races but there is no reason his classics results can't keep improving.

I can't help but think that his doing these races that are bit out of his comfort zone can't help but make him a stronger, more well rounded rider. Good for him!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

He was already a more rounded rider than people gave him credit for. Remember that uphill win in the sleet in last year's Volta ao Algarve? In the 2010 Giro, yes he was ill and off form, but at one point he led the péloton onto a cat.1 climb. Sure, he didn't last very far on it, but he did get on the front and drive the pace on a climb.

You wouldn't get that from Cavendish. Not that he's ever been asked to do that, to be fair, but even before he left HTC Greipel was showing signs of being more versatile than the ersatz Cavendish he was being treated as by fans and team alike.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

He might not be cleaning up this year but I'm really liking this Greipel Version 2.0 a lot more than before. He's lost a bit of weight and a bit of the pressure of being a pure sprinter. He gets into breaks and works for the team. He could do a lot more in the Classics in years to come.

Lotto are definately paying him to get in to breaks and finish 30something in races.

His season so far is a failure despite any gloss you put on it - it may be more entertaining to watch for sprint haters, but I very much doubt he is pleased with his results.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Remember the huge turn Greipel did on the front in Milan-San Remo? He didn't think he could get to the end, the team's best shot at victory was Gilbert, hence he did the job.

Did you think Milan-San Remo, Flanders or Roubaix were going to wind up as bunch sprints? Sanremo maybe, but from a bunch reduced enough that you wouldn't expect Greipel to be there. For a sprinter, not winning a cobbled monument is hardly disappointing, and I'm sure he was happy to get the opportunity to ride those races since he hasn't done before.

Yes, before he racked up the points with the Tour Down Under and the likes. But right now he has bigger fish to fry. In the HTC days, it was worth him being in good form for TDU since Cavendish would hoover up all the biggest races. Now, Greipel will get to ride races like the Tour, so why would he waste his energy building up form for January? At HTC it didn't matter if he wasn't on form in July, cos they only sent him to the Österreichrundfahrt, and every sprinter worth their salt would be in France so he could sleepwalk to the wins. Now, however, he's got to be peaking for July.

 

[Parrulo]

i must say i am very impressed with greipel this season, with some experience he can do some good p-r's and maybe win san remo in the next few years. don't see him beating cav at the tour tho . . .

 

[jaylew]

Not winning as much so far but I have to say I'm liking Greipel even more this year. He will need to pick up the victory pace though, and his match ups in the GTs against the top guys will also be important.

 

[ergmonkey]

He was already a more rounded rider than people gave him credit for.

Definitely. Didn't he win the opening tt in Tour of Turkey one year when it included a 1km finishing hill? I know that wasn't the best Pro Tour field, but he still had to beat an in-form and gc-motivated Visconti, among others.

Greipel needs to deliver victories to justify his salary, but I think his strongman qualities might help him do this in the grand tours. He doesn't look like he can win a lot of pure drag sprints when Cavendish and Farrar are both on-form, but there are plenty of grand tour stages out there that can be just a little too hard for Cav and Farrar some days, depending on how the teams choose to race. Maybe these are the Giro/Tour/Vuelta stages that Greipel will be winning for the next several years?

The green jersey could also work out for him down the road if he can nab extra points over the pure sprinters like Hushovd and Zabel have in past years.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The new green jersey system may be part of the reason he's been riding as he has - honing his ability to get into the breakaway and score points from that.

He could feasibly inject himself into the green jersey mix the same way as Massimo Strazzer and Fabrizio Guidi used to win the Intergiro... get up there, take the time bonuses/points/victory at the Intergiro, then soft pedal back to the péloton to take part in the bunch sprint at the line.

 

[Willy_Voet]

Greipel is one of the few guys you can look at and think he's meant to win something like Roubaix. I'd put Magnus Bäckstedt and Thor Hushvod into the same category (with a name like Magnus...you have to win Roubaix, right?) I hope he gets a free ride there next year and goes for a win in 2.

With regards to success this year (or not), he didn't win stages at Tour Down Under...hardly a failure. I'd say the stage win at 3 Days of De Panne trumps that kiddie race anyway.

 

[taiwan]

Cyclingfever Giro startlist

Greipel isn't on the Giro longlist according to cycligngfever. It's the Tour of Turkey by the looks of things (they overlap, right?). Few sprint victories, but he looks like he's going ok. KBK and GW results were ok. I agree, the performances in escapes during the Classics season have been promising. If he gains the form to survive harder stages that other sprinters can't then the victories will come.

O/T Lotto's tactics in P-R were looking masterful when they put Roelandts, Greipel and Boucher in the first group. Easy to say such things, but the German could easily have been close to the top ten without having punctured. But I know, "if blah blah blah, then blah".

 

[roundabout]

Turkey and Giro don't overlap. IIRC Turkey ends 1 week before. Farrar is also doing Turkey from what i've read and i doubt that he plans on missing the Giro.

Edit: Turkey ends on the 01.05 and Giro starts on the 7th.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Greipel could feasibly do Turkey, missing out Frankfurt (a shame, but then I wouldn't back him to get over Mammolshain. He sure couldn't last year), then there's 4 Jours de Dunkerque (surely he could get a stage or two there), Vuelta a Madrid (no), Tour de Picardie, Tour of California, Circuit de Lorraine, Skoda Velothon Berlin (surely Greipel will want to do well at this if Lotto go - likely to be pretty flat, and as close to a home race as the big Mecklenburg-Vorpommener will get), Ronde van België and the Bayernrundfahrt.

There are some other .1 races, the Polish stage race and a couple of French and Estonian 1-dayers, but I stuck to races we'll have heard of/Lotto could feasibly attend even if they obviously won't do all of them.

 

[The Hitch]

Vuelta a Madrid

What is this and when is it?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Two day race in early May. It has moved to take the Volta a Catalunya's old calendar slot, it used to be in July. Tends to follow the Criterium International formula of a short TT, a flat stage and a lumpy stage.

Last year Sergio Pardilla won it overall with a solo performance on the Puerto de la Morcuera. The year before that Héctor Guerra (now disgraced of course) won the ITT and held on for the rest of the race, though the lumpy stage of the 2009 race wasn't as selective as the 2010 version.

 

[Eric8-A]

It would be awesome for him to win green at the Tour. Something for him to rub in Cav's face. Also, it'd ne nice to see him turn into a Boonen type of rider.