The two combine in one rider, Germany’s André Greipel, who is set to retire in a few weeks, after a 17-year career that saw him claim more victories than any other rider this century. Israel Start-Up Nation’s sprinter announced in July, just ahead of his 39th birthday, that he would leave the professional peloton at the end of the season. The 60th edition of Eschborn-Frankfurt (Saturday 19 September) will thus be one of the last occasions to celebrate one of the greatest modern champions of cycling, nicknamed the gorilla by various sports media.
The German one-day race is among the few that have always resisted Greipel despite his successive attempts - all of them on 1 May, the traditional date of Eschborn-Frankfurt, but in 2021 pushed back to the end of summer due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In six previous participations, the sprinter from Rostock, who grew up in East Germany and was seven years old when the Berlin Wall fell, has abandoned four times. The other two editions, he came very close to victory: 3rd in 2013, and 5th in 2012. On both occasions, he was the fastest man in the bunch but he couldn’t take victory as attackers narrowly fended off the sprinters.
Resisting André Greipel in the early 2010s was no easy feat. The German sprinter is the most prolific winner of the 21st century, crowned with more successes than Mark Cavendish, only outscored by a handful of icons such as the Belgians Eddy Merckx, Rik Van Looy and Roger De Vlaeminck. “After the rain comes the sun”, he said philosophically in July 2019, when his tally of victories was stuck at 156, after years of spectacular growth (up to 40 victories in less than 18 months, between May 2009 and September 2010).
A serial winner
July 2019 was only two years ago , but it seems a lifetime, with the many changes the world has experienced since then. For André Greipel, it was the moment from which his legs would no longer power him to as many successes as before. He had joined the French team Arkéa-Samsic after eight triumphant seasons with Lotto-Soudal (known as Omega Pharma-Lotto when he joined them in 2011). Greipel only raised his arms once in 2019, but it was a landmark win: his victory in stage 6 of La Tropicale Amissa Bongo was his first in Africa, after previous successes in Europe, Oceania, America and Asia.
This globe-trotting serial winner may very well have produced his most dominant performances in the Australian Santos Tour Down Under, with 18 stage wins (out of 51 stages in which he participated; a ratio of 35% of victories). Closer to the European roots of pro cycling, he participated in 12 Grand Tours (at least one per season) between May 2008 and May 2017, and he won at least one stage on every occasion (22 in total: 11 in the Tour de France, 7 in the Giro d’Italia, and 4 in La Vuelta a España).
After a winless season in 2020, his two successes in Spain in May 2021 (Trofeo Alcudia-Port d'Alcudia and stage 4 of the Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol) allowed him to raise his arms again before bidding farewell. And he was very close to another win last week, 2nd on the last stage of the Tour of Britain, behind Wout van Aert and ahead of Cavendish.
A gentleman
Greipel announced his coming retirement in the summer, on the roads of the Tour de France, just before he reached the Champs-Élysées for the ninth and last time as a pro cyclist. “I’m super happy with everything I achieved together with my teammates, together with the staff around”, he explained in a video shared by Israel Start-Up Nation, his last team (2020 and 2021). “I always was happy to receive this support and of course without my teammates, the staff, and of course my family, I wouldn’t achieve everything I did.”
Today, @AndreGreipel has an announcement to make.
— Israel Start-Up Nation / Israel Cycling Academy (@TeamIsraelSUN) July 17, 2021
"I look to the future with a lot of happiness."
___
🇫🇷 #TDF2021 pic.twitter.com/Tr8Iq7PbCT
His many achievements began with Team Wiesenhof in 2005 and saw him rise to glory with Team Highroad and Team Columbia-HTC, where he became a serial winner and also clashed with another supremely gifted sprinter, Mark Cavendish. Their opposition was absolute, physically and mentally. The Brit used all his grit and craft to make the most of his explosive burst of speeds while the German built his successes on his raw power.
Greipel once publicly reproached Cavendish for his selfishness, and the Manxman retorted that his German teammate didn't have the mentality of a sprinter. The two have since found their own paths to success in separate teams and expressed their respect for their rival. “He's more of a gentleman than others”, said Marc Sergeant, Greipel's friend and former manager, in Le Monde. “If there's a small hole, he will hesitate. He doesn't want someone to crash because of him.”
The Gorilla from Rostock is about to step away from the sprints but the gentleman shouldn't go too far: “I hope, somehow, to stay in cycling.”