Credit: Mario Stiehl

 

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Andre Greipel wins stage 4 of the Tour of Austria

July 10, 2008

German speedster Andrei Greipel took his eighth win of the season today with a classy bunch sprint victory in stage four of the Tour of Austria. The winner of four stages and the overall in the Tour Down Under as well as a stage in the Giro,  at the finish of stage four from Lienz to Wolfsberg Greipel successfully outgunned Austrian Rene Haselbacher and German Danilo Hondo. 

“It was a good win, I took it by more than a bike length after Edvald Boasson Hagen had given me a great lead out.” Greipel said.

“He also took fifth so it was a good day for the team.”

“There was a headwind so I had to go from a little bit further out than I would have liked. But I had the strength to go all the way to the finish.”

“I didn’t known the finish at all, but that wasn’t a problem. It was wide and not too technical, so I could go all out.”

“I’m a bit surprised that I could take this win because last week I got a bit ill. But clearly my form is better than I thought!”

Hot weather made it tough going, temperatures reaching 35 degrees.
“Normally I can’t handle the heat like that, but I guess I must be getting a bit more resistant with age.” Greipel joked.

There are two more opportunities for stage wins in the Tour of Austria and Greipel plans to challenge for them both.

“What’s great is that we can take it fairly easy because we have already won a stage. It’ll be up to the other sprinters teams to do the work and they’ll be under more pressure.”