Greipel wins stage four of Deutschland Tour whilst Teutenberg takes Holland Ladies Tour opener

Stage four of the Tour of Germany on Tuesday saw Columbia fastman Andre Greipel outgun Australian Robbie McEwen and German Robert Forster for his twelfth victory of the season. A bunch sprint on the stage from Wiesloch to Mainz only became a certainty with six kilometres to go when Frenchman Thomas Voeckler was reeled in - but Greipel was ready to pounce.

“I can’t say I was too surprised I managed to win because we’ve got the strongest team here and I’ve got such strong support as a result.” Greipel said afterwards.
“But it wasn’t the most straightforward to victories. I had a bit of a rough time with a kilometre to go, there were guys all over the place trying to get through and I nearly crashed.”

“Then in the last 500 metres, there were a couple of traffic islands and a sharp corner, which didn’t make it any easier, either.”

“Fortunately [team-mate] Gerald Ciolek guided me through  and gave me exactly the lead out I was looking at.”

“I accelerated away with about 200 metres to go and got the win.”

Greipel now has 12 wins in his 2008, starting back in the Tour Down Under in January and which include a Giro stage  this May, but he says he is not targetting any particular number of victories.

“I just want as many as possible, and to keep the wins coming for as long as possible. The more the better!”

Overall there was no change, with Columbia’s Linus Gerdemann still in control and team-mate Thomas Lovkvist in second place. The Tour of Germany ends in Bremen on September 6th with a 34 kilometre time trial.

In  Hellendorn, Ina-Yoko Teutenberg has scorched to a classy sprint victory in the opening stage of the Holland Ladies Tour.

"She won it comfortably, by a good three bikes lengths. It was very impressive." Sports director Ronny Lauke said afterwards.

"It was a fairly tough finish, too, a little bit uphill in the last kilometer, a few concerns and with some covvled sections on the run-in."

"But Ina got into the right postition with 800 meters to go, and then just went for it."

"But we controlled the race during the whole stage - which was through typical Dutch terrain, just a few small hills with a couple of loops of one large circuit then a couple more of a smaller one before the finsih."

"They weren't any serious breakaways, so we kept things together for Ina for the sprint, dropped her in the last kilometre, and she did exactly what was expected of her.”

“She didn’t even have a lead-out, but once she was in the right position for the sprint, really it wasn’t going to be possible to stop her.”

Lauke is optimistic that Teutenberg will do her utmost to defend her overall lead in the flat 20.5 kilometre time trial on Wednesday.

“Ina’s not a specialist, but she definitely knows how to turn in a solid ride in a time trial.”

“With any luck, she could hold onto the lead - or one of her team-mates might take over, who knows?”

“Whatever happens, Ina’s not going to throw away this lead lightly. I know that for sure.”

The Ladies Tour of Holland finishes on Sunday in Valkenburg

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