Beware the Antipodean connection

To say that André Greipel will have the flatter stages of the Giro all to himself would be far too presumptuous, writes Anthony Tan.

To say that André Greipel will have the flatter stages of the Giro all to himself would be far too presumptuous, writes Anthony Tan.

If one accepts that Mark Cavendish is the best sprinter in the world, then it's logical to accept his team-mate André Greipel as the second-best.

However, after a tooth op. gone bad, it has been the once-unbeatable Cavendish who has proven he can be defeated, while Greipel, before a Grand Tour pedal stroke turned, is already in double figures. Cav' is at two.

After Saturday's 8.4 kilometre Amsterdam time trial to open this year's Giro d'Italia, the following two Dutch stages have 'sprint finish' written all over them.

Will Greipel continue his winning ways, or will it be Farrar – the man who Cavendish described at last year's Giro as "an incredibly nice guy […], so it's a shame to say he's not a super, super good sprinter" – who will continue where he left off after his Scheldeprijs win, in what was a very solid Spring Classics?

Or will it be one of the 'old boys' (not so much age-wise, more they've been around a while) – namely Alessandro Petacchi, Robbie McEwen and Baden Cooke (remember, Oscar Freire isn't racing due to sinusitis) that will come good?

If either of the aforementioned trio notch just one stage win, I'm sure they'll be happy with that, and consider their job done at the Giro.

Memories of the first road stage of the 2007 Tour de France are still vivid as yesterday. Just when people had begun to write Robbie off, out he comes after crashing 20km from the line to best Thor Hushovd and Tom Boonen and win one of the most memorable sprint finishes in TdF history: 'Twas a true Canterbury tale.

It took a brave (stupid?) scribe to write "Robbie McEwen's best days are behind him" again.

He'll turn 38 in under two months from now, and it was a few years earlier than this that another sprinting great, Mario Cipollini, showed signs of slowing; 2003 was really the Tuscan's last vintage year, aged 36.

But McEwen, for my measure, is far more disciplined than Cipo, who was all natural talent, power and class – along with a giant-sized serve of braggadocio. Discipline was rarely part of the overall equation.

I still remember how emotional McEwen was after the final stage of the Tour Down Under. He hadn't ridden a stage race for seven months, he didn't win a stage all week that was dominated by Greipel – yet by the finish, he couldn't have been more satisfied.

"I had a broken leg last year, a couple of operations, a lot of problems, and it's been a very, very long road back. And to come to finish, I think third [he actually finished fourth] in the Tour Down Under and [to] have consistent results all week, I'm just over the moon with it, it's just fantastic," he said, almost choking on his words.

Asked earlier that week about Greipel, McEwen said: "At the moment he's undeniably the strongest sprinter – but it doesn't mean you're going to win every stage.

"I just have to be quicker on the day. You don't win races against the best sprinters when you're maybe at 80 percent power. It's that last 6 or 8 percent that makes the difference."

'Cookie's' a little bit in the same boat, though for different reasons.

Just as his Saxo Bank DS Brad McGee has been helping newbie Richie Porte with his time trialing (the fruits of which were seen at the Tour de Romandie, where Porte won a 23km TT by almost half a minute), he's also been guiding Cooke back on the right path.

It's worth repeating that he won that green jersey aged just 24 at the 2003 Tour de France, which tells you Cooke, 31 now, is still very much in his cycling prime.

Cooke told me last September, having just signed for Saxo: "I have to rely on my strength now a lot more. I don't feel I'm as fast at the moment, but I don't think it's something that couldn't come back.

"I think I've still got it there in the legs. Brad and I have already got a few things in place, and we're talking about some different training we can do. So don't be surprised if I'm sprinting a lot faster next year."

And, of course, it would be remiss of me to end this blog without mentioning Team Sky's Antipodean Connection, Greg Henderson and Chris Sutton, who worked their magic en route to a stage apiece at the Tour Down Under.

I'd put a few Euros on them doing it again at the Giro – even if the embattled currency is worth increasingly less of late.