We could not have gone better: Greipel

The 29-year-old says he and his Lotto-Belisol team could not have had a better Adelaide campaign picking up the Down Under Classic, three stage wins and himself a stint in the leader’s jersey.

“We were realistic before we came here, we said that we want to win stages and everything happened like we expected with Willunga (stage five) and Menglers Hill (stage four) - pretty tough climbs and not so easy for sprinters to get over the climbs to be in front on the GC,” Greipel said.

The two-time tour champion didn’t give up race leadership without a fight in the fourth stage but lost time when the main peloton split on Menglers Hill. Greipel was dropped from the lead group and then led a chase that was ultimately unsuccessful and finished more than seven minutes behind stage winner Oscar Freire (Katusha).

Regardless, the Lotto team mastered the stages for pure sprinters and without key lead-out figure Jurgen Roelandts, who was sidelined after fracturing his sixth cervical vertebra in the crash-marred tour opener.

Roelandts could be out of competition for up to 12 weeks in what would be a blow to Lotto’s classics campaign. But the 26-year-old, sporting a neck brace, was on hand to congratulate his team-mates in South Australia yesterday.

Greipel says the Lotto team made the difference between his own performances and those of others at the first WorldTour event of 2012.

“I think for the moment we’ve got the best lead-out train at this time of the year and this makes it easier for me to become more relaxed in the sprints,” he said.

“I’m confident in the guys, I trust in them to launch my sprint here.

“I was concentrated on my own things in the sprints. Everybody has his own goals I just tried to be stronger than the rest.”

Greipel is set to continue his season at next month’s Tour of Qatar but is unsure of the team that may go with him.

Twitter: @SophieSmith86