Greipel to defend his ProTour lead
Get ready for an intense week of ProTour action, starting this Sunday with the Tour of Flanders.
More than two months since he secured his strong opening lead in Australia’s Tour Down Under, German Andrei Greipel will be back in ProTour action this Sunday - in one of cycling’s most hallowed Classics.
The High Road sprinter was not initially down to take part in Flanders for his team. But having the ProTour leader’s jersey to defend, and a good advantage at the top of the classification, has changed all that.
Can Greipel successfully defend his lead on Sunday? The answer has to be a resounding yes.
Greipel took 62 points for his fine run of four stage wins and the overall in the Tour Down Under. Whoever finishes first in Flanders will automatically take just 50.
Victory in the first of cycling’s ‘monuments’, therefore, will not be good enough for a new leader to emerge in the ProTour.
But a strong result could certainly act as a springboard for a challenger against Greipel in the very near future - depending, of course, very much on what the High Road pro achieves himself on Sunday’s 264 kilometre epic.
However, April’s ProTour action does not end on Sunday. With Ghent-Wevelgem just three days later, and the Tour of the Basque Country running from April 7th - 12th, there are plenty of opportunities for an intriguingly complex battle for the ProTour lead to emerge.
Jose Joaquin Rojas of Caisse D’Epargne, third-placed on the ProTour general classification, is one such potential challenger to Greipel’s grip on the lead. Second in the recent GP Llodio - so clearly in form - and a winner of a stage of the Tour of Mallorca, Rojas did not finish last year in Flanders.
Even so, he still took ninth in last year’s Ghent-Wevelgem, showing that the Spaniard is no slouch when it comes to the Belgian climbs…
In the teams ranking, Francaise des Jeux are currently in power - but that could change fast in Flanders.
It is true that the French squad’s leader, Phillipe Gilbert is a strong challenger for Sunday’s race. At the same time the differences are too small for any team to feel their position is invulnerable.
And as every cycling fan knows, there is nothing predictable about the Tour of Flanders.