Video: Greipel celebrates yet another milestone at the Tour Down Under
Lotto Belisol sprinter dominates to claim 100th pro win
Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) proved he was indeed the on-form sprinter of another Tour Down Under when he won the sixth and final stage of the Australian WorldTour event - the 100th victory of his professional career.
The German seemed unfazed by the milestone.
"I didn't count - I thought I already had 100," he told media following the sprint.
"It's always nice to get another win. We always took responsibility during the week for the sprints and I think we worked hard for sprint possibilities and we also dominated the sprint."
Dominate the mighty Lotto Belisol train did over the past seven days - first taking out the warm-up People's Choice Classic before getting down to business on Stage 1. His win on Stage 4 was Greipel's 13th at the Tour Down Under, breaking the record previously held by Robbie McEwen. Four sprints in a week, it was a clean sweep.
"We did for sprints, we won four," Greipel stated. "The team always did a big effort to bring me to the front and keep me out of trouble. Of course we would have liked to have had Adam Hansen in the top-10, it didn’t work out. I think with four victories we can be really happy."
When Greipel crossed the finish line after the 90km street circuit on Sunday, he had moved around Blanco's Mark Renshaw who had opened the sprint with around 300m to go. The German's acceleration made it look like Renshaw had been standing still.
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"It was nearly the same scenario as last year," Greipel explained. "I don't know if he had my wheel but he surprised me a bit but I had some power left to get past him again.
"I think he did a really long, nice fast sprint. Even our lead-out was already fast. Of course it was fun what he did. I was about to kick also for the sprint. Of course he surprised me but I could go in his slipstream and I could pass him again."
As a sports journalist and producer since 1997, Jane has covered Olympic and Commonwealth Games, rugby league, motorsport, cricket, surfing, triathlon, rugby union, and golf for print, radio, television and online. However her enduring passion has been cycling.
Jane is a former Australian Editor of Cyclingnews from 2011 to 2013 and continues to freelance within the cycling industry.