'I’m super happy with what I achieved' - Andre Greipel confirms he will retire from cycling at end of the season

ByEurosport

Published 17/07/2021 at 20:12 GMT

"I’m super happy with what I achieved together with my team-mates and the staff around me,” Andre Greipel said after confirming he would retire at the end of the season. “I was always happy with the support that I had around. Without my teammates, the staff, and of course my family I wouldn’t have achieved what I have.

Andre Greipel has confirmed he will retire from cycling at the end of the current season.

The German was one of the best sprinters in cycling at his peak, and numbers 11 victories at the Tour de France among his 22 stage wins at grand tours.

At 39, Greipel no longer has the searing pace of previous years and his finish on the Champs Elysees on Sunday will be his final appearance at the Tour de France.

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"So tomorrow’s stage will definitely be my last in the Tour de France and after 2021 I will also retire, so the end of the year will be a point at the end of my career," Greipel said in a video released by his Israel Start-Up Nation team.

Greipel’s most successful year at the Tour came in 2015 when he won four stages, including the finale on the Champs Elysees.

"I’m super happy with what I achieved together with my team-mates and the staff around me,” Greipel said. “I was always happy with the support that I had around. Without my team-mates, the staff, and of course my family I wouldn’t have achieved what I have.

I’m not looking back in anger. I’m looking to the future with a lot of happiness because I can do what I want. I can suffer when I want and of course, spend a lot of time with my family. I wish everyone a good time in the pro peloton. I hope to somehow stay in cycling."

Greipel’s first stage win at a grand tour came in the Giro d’Italia in 2008, while he won the points classification at the 2009 Vuelta a Espana.

He is one of the most respected figures in the peloton and led a protest on Stage 4, following the series of crashes the previous day that the riders felt meant the stage finish was unsafe.

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