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ANDRÉ GREIPEL ON SPRINTING, BURNOUT & CYCLING COACHING | ROADMAN

42:46·22 February 2022

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André Greipel won 158 professional bike races and gave away every Tour de France stage bonus he ever earned. Split it with the whole team, every time. That detail tells you more about how sprint captaincy actually works than anything you'll read about lead-out trains.

Key Takeaways

The thing Greipel keeps coming back to in this conversation is how much cycling has changed in the last six or seven years. Not tactically. Professionally. Sleep, nutrition, altitude camps, every training session at 100%. He watched Tom Dumoulin step away and he understood it immediately. He said when you do that every single day, eventually the body shuts down and so does the head. He's not sure the young generation, Pogacar, Evenepoel, these guys getting famous before they're even out of the under-23 category, will still be racing at 38. They won't need to.

On the Lotto split and the contract offer: Greipel made it over the Poggio at Milan-San Remo for the first time in his career, crashed on the descent, broke his collarbone. That night management told him to come in and negotiate. The offer never came. Twelve weeks later he came back, won two stages at the Tour of Denmark, finished second overall by one second. Two days before the Tour de France they sent him a contract for one third of his previous salary, with grand tours and monuments ruled out. He told them no. He'd been sharing his bonus money with the riders around him for years because he said they earned it and he earned enough. The team that made him felt like it had already moved on.

André Greipel is a retired German professional cyclist with between 158 and 164 career victories, including 11 Tour de France stage wins, 7 Giro d'Italia stage wins, 4 Vuelta a España stage wins, and 3 national championships. Speaking on the Roadman Cycling podcast in February 2022, Greipel stated that he shared all Tour de France stage bonus payments with his full team rather than retaining them personally. He described the downhill sprint finish at the Tour de Pologne in Katowice as reaching 85 to 90 km/h, which he considered dangerous and repeatedly reported to race commissaires without result. Greipel attributed increasing rates of rider burnout to the professionalisation of cycling over the preceding six to seven years, citing mandatory altitude camps, strict sleep and nutrition protocols, and year-round training load as contributing factors. He retired after the 2021 season, having declined a contract renewal from Lotto that offered one third of his previous salary and excluded Grand Tours and monuments.

The episode with Ben Hermans on what it feels like when a yellow jersey doesn't feel like victory covers similar ground on the emotional weight of racing at the top level. And if you want the full picture on how modern cycling got this demanding, the Team Sky marginal gains episode is the place to start.

KEY QUOTES

“I would say that cycling changed a lot in the last let's say six, seven years. Um, it just everything gets more and more professional. Uh, you really have to be 100% in everything. You have to sleep correct. You have to eat correct. You have to make altitude camps. You have to train 100%. And I think if you do this every day, uh, from I mean it's it's normal that the body shuts down, maybe also the head shuts down.”
André Greipel — Professional cyclist, 158 professional wins

“That sprint to go down there with 85 to 90ks an hour is just insane. And yeah, I just never dared to sprinted there. And every time I crossed the finish line I went to the com and I said that sprint is insane you can't do this this is just not normal.”
André Greipel — Professional cyclist, 158 professional wins

“I'm not quite sure with the same lead out Mark had I I would have won already to the front stages beforehand. Um but yeah, at the end of the day he won all the races. So uh the sport directors and the team got it right.”
André Greipel — Professional cyclist, 158 professional wins

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT8 SECTIONS

158 Wins and Lifelong Friendships

I got a contract offer two days before the start of the tour to France and uh which was one/ird of my salary. So I just said okay now I'm not going to sign this. Folks, it's Andre Griel on the Roadman podcast. Andre, how are you? Yeah, thanks for having me. Andre, I'm pumped about this. Uh, you couldn't be a more prolific winning bike rider. I was just looking at your Pal Marz. I knew you won a lot of races, but just looking at your Pal Marz before this uh podcast, you've won 158 professional bike races. Yeah, I mean uh stats are always different. Some pages say that I won 164, some say that I won 158, but yeah, I don't care. I don't care how much I won. I just uh I'm just uh pretty proud of uh everything I have done throughout my career and uh yeah I'm also I was also able to win a few races together with a team who supported me off course in all these races. I had your buddy uh Rick Zabel on the podcast uh recently and he he said he's a lot of friends in cycling and then he's like I have one ride or die homie, one guy who I'll always be friends with, Andre Griffle. He's like he couldn't speak highly enough of you. Yeah. I mean uh of course uh at the end of the day we are colleagues. Um for sure I also have uh some really good friendships uh in my cycling life. Let's say uh but yeah especially with with riders like Rick um and also Masa Zbec. These are the lifetime friendships. say uh when you're really room together and uh share a lot of time together and also train a lot together uh then you just build a connection and that makes uh things of course easier when you travel a lot. It would have been much funnier if you had have said, "No, to be honest, I don't really like Rick S. That's a one-way friendship. He's just stalking me." Let's say uh Rick has his own mind in cycling, but I think uh maybe he's I'm the only one he's really listened to. uh and and also take in account uh what I refer to the way he does training sometimes and does cycling life, let's say. And I mean, at the end of the day, I'm I'm happy that he takes takes it for granted when I tell him things to do right or wrong, let's say. Yeah. Rick Rick seems like he enjoys life. He seems like he enjoys balance. He enjoys a beer off the bike and his training on the bike in equal proportions. I get that vibe from him. Ah, I'm I'm quite sure that he going to would be a much better bike rider when he just would 100% focused on the bike. But on the other side, uh maybe he wouldn't be the the bike rider he is now because yeah, he's just busy also besides cycling and uh just enjoys the life next to the bike as well, which I think also brings him down, calms him down and also yeah is is a it's also a way to relax. So let's say yeah everybody at the end of the day has to to to make his own life and uh also needs to yeah needs to handle it the way he feels it the best. Yeah. Cuz isn't that the problem? If you look at somebody who hits it full gas like hitting it full gas is great for as long as you're able to maintain hitting it full gas. But if you look at Tom Dumalan, you know, would Tom Dumalan's career if he had have, you know, been a bit more chilled out and had extracurricular activities and not needed to step away from the sport would have been a more successful career. I I don't know if it would, but just playing devil's advocate is the stresses of trying to stay at the very very top always sometimes counterproductive. I would say that uh cycling changed a lot uh in the last let's say six, seven years. Um, it just everything gets more and more professional. Uh, you really have to be 100% in everything. You have to sleep correct. You have to eat correct. You have to make altitude camps. You have to train 100%. And I think if you do this every day, uh, from I mean it's it's normal that the body shuts down, maybe also the head shuts down. So, uh, you can't do it, uh, for a long period like this. And, uh, I think he, it's also a lot of riders, I think they they they think they have it under control, but, uh, it's also you need to have some balls also to to say, okay, I going to get a bit distance uh, towards the bike and myself. And uh uh it's just an honest way of uh yeah adapting to what is going on in in in your mind. And uh I'm quite sure that all these young guys for sure they are professional but uh I hope that they also listening to their body and mind uh and uh that they can have a long career.

Teenage Stars and Modern Training

Yeah, it's a mark, I think, of a really confident rider who really understands himself to be able to, you know, slow it down and take time out. I feel like some of the guys coming into the sport, like even the media attention, new guys coming in like Remco, like when you won your first Grand Tour stage back in 2008, what age were you in then? Oh, 26. But and like that's what that would for me in my mind be typical of somebody new coming onto the scene. You know, you're just out of the young rider classification. But now it's like Remco and Pagatcha and these K they're kids. Like they're still in the young rider classification and they have this crazy level of fame and everything that goes with that at such an early age. That's got to affect them. Um I'm quite sure uh they're not going to be professional with 38 or 39. Yeah, I don't think so. And they also don't need to because I think they're going to earn a lot of money uh also before. But that's what I said about citing that it changed so much. Um when I was under 23 rider, it was it was normal that you did all the four years in the under 23 category and then you turned professional. There were just two guys who turned professional before. This was uh Pato and Canala and uh Reuters. Yeah. So uh they they handled it uh also to to to get the status from juniors into professionals. But you also had the farm teams of Mai who brought them to the smaller races. But yeah the all these young guys they come up now they win the tour of France they win uh directly professional races and I think this also shows that uh cycling changed a lot also in the in the young classes in the young generations that the training just gets more and more professional and also the internet also gives uh everything for free let's say and if you're not so stupid you get uh can benefit from a lot of stuff in cycling and uh uh sport science etc. And uh of course it's a it's it's it's a small uh barrier between uh yeah let's say having overload training and uh also yeah not doing the best out of your of your body. Me and Rick chatted uh a lot about well not a lot but we chatted about the downhill sprint in Tora Palonia when ground away again and Jakobson uh collided and had the crash and you know we we don't need to get into you know the the pros and cons of who was right who was wrong. Uh Rick Rick said like an unpopular opinion he's like Jakobson could have pulled the brakes. He's like he chose to go through that gap. But what was interesting talking about that was and it's something we don't see on the television. He said there's two types of sprinters. There's these kamicazi sprinters who will go for crazy gaps. And he said both Grown Wagan and Yakabson are in the kamicazi category. He put Bhani in the kamicazi category. He's like they sprint without regard to anyone around them. And he said there's another type of sprinter who he called it the gentleman sprinter. They want to win bike races. They're motivated. They do wing bike races, but they don't want to do it at the expense of their safety and the safety of everyone around them. And he puts you into that latter category as somebody who's one of the fastest guys he's ever raced with or against, but also has a lot of respect for his co-workers. Do you see yourself like that or do you see those two categories? Um, yeah, for sure. Uh, I mean, it's also a change in generation now in cycling. Uh but the lack of respect is for sure there. Uh all these young guys come up and of course they want to prove themselves. I also wanted to prove myself. But if I would have done something strange, stupid, uh there would be a chipini or a pitaki next to me and they would say, "Hey man, uh next time I going to put you in the barrier or whatever and and you for sure I wouldn't wouldn't have done this a second time." Uh but there was let's say the the respect persons were there and uh you you really didn't want to get into into the mix of them. But let's say a lot of guys they always said that I'm too too friendly on the bike that I don't use my elbows. But then I then I always say okay maybe it is like this uh but I won 158 bike races and it's not 164 depending on what website you check. Well, yeah, but uh but I think for for having this number of victories, I think you also need some elbows. Uh um but yeah, when you get older, you also realize that you don't take it uh take it that you don't go through every gap.

The Danger of Downhill Sprints

Let's say I calculated the risk and sometimes I I slammed the brakes and sometimes I did not. But when I need when I can come back to the sprint in Katoitza there uh I raced to of Poland of course a few times before as well and I never sprinted there and I every time I crossed the finish line I went to the com and I said that sprint is insane you can't do this this is just not normal and uh of course it's bad that uh something like this happened um but it could have been also prevented it by having this sprint up on the other side uh or on top of it of that hill. It would be even more spectacular in my opinion because you had more chances for different type of riders. But that sprint to go down there with 85 to 90ks an hour is just insane. And yeah, I just never dared to sprinted there. And I I I think you're totally right. It's for me to fault it with the race organizer there like straight away. But and I think with the Gruner wagon, yeah, he definitely deviates off his lying, but we see this all the time. And I feel that you need to punish behavior and not consequences because consequences are arbitrary. There's, you know, maybe Yakabson crashes there and doesn't hurt himself and then we never have the conversation again. But the the thing is, does he deviate? I don't think he deviates any more than we see Cavendish deviate, Bennett deviate. I don't think the deviation was crazy. And for me, the biggest problem was just the downhill sprints at, you know, like you say, 90 plus the bike bike bike shouldn't go that fast. 90 km an hour. It's crazy. Yeah. Um and then just imagine when you have slipstream uh how much more uh you come there with speed and uh of course you can hit the brakes. Um and let's say if I take myself into a sprint like this uh you never want to hurt anyone. You it's just the connection of adrenaline and all the all the things going on in the sprint. Uh it's not that you want to hurt somebody. It's just a a re reflex, let's say. And uh I mean you you learn it from a young age that you have to close the barriers that nobody can pass you on the barrier. So they just can pass you on one side. And uh it's it's it's just a pure sport accident, let's say, but it could have been prevented uh with uh a different pakura. And also uh yeah, let's say Jakobson uh doesn't want to go to that gap. It's funny you said you learn at a young age. It's is there something in the water in Germany? Like is this sprinting is it just bred into you guys at an early age? Like I look back at the last two decades of cycling and two of the greatest sprinters we've ever seen is yourself and Marcel Kitel. And you know, I'm not sure, did you come up on, you know, national teams together or is there a particular focus on sprinting that maybe molded you guys through the same process? Um, I would say that it's uh, yeah, just the the the way the trainers uh, support you and uh, and also mother nature brings you the fast twitching muscles or not. Um but I think at the end it's just the talent scouting let's say uh and uh maybe also the mindset uh is is for sure also there uh especially with sprinters I guess it's uh really uh the full focus and uh maybe it's just in the mother milk that uh that you have uh have this gene that you want to succeed no matter what and uh also go through the brick walls with the head Who to your mind you know retired or retired you know any period ago or still riding is is the greatest sprinter of all time. I think you never can compare decades uh in my opinion or or sprinters from 60 1960 or or something because yeah it's just the way it is. cycling changes from time to time more and more but I mean numbers don't lie so uh for sure Mark Kevin is one of the best uh we have had in cycling and uh yeah then Chapelini I think uh you can name those three guys who were in my opinion uh yeah by far the best sprinters around is it a little bit uh is a little bit of your jealous that you'd like to still be in Israel Startup Nation this season with Nazolo coming along. I think you guys could have had a lot of fun. Um, I still had contract. Oh, you do have a contract. I I had a contract, but I I just didn't want to to to race anymore. It's uh for me it was enough. Um, and yeah, another rider got my my spot, so that's fine for me. I think the the both of us and in our team wouldn't wouldn't happen if I still would continue.

Sharing a Team With Another Sprinter

Uh but yeah, it for sure it could have been fun. Jako is a good guy and uh yeah and also the way the the the way Israel is uh putting the team together is quite professional and uh yeah going back into the details. Yeah, it looks like they've quite a nice little lead out team going with Dowset, Rick Zabel, Nazolo there. It's they look like they're going to be pretty fast and I'm not so sure how fast Bennett is going to be without Morov. I think that was a part of his magic at Quickstep and I think it was a mistake leaving Morov behind a Bora. Yeah, the Burough guys are also not so bad uh from the power output, let's say. U but I think it would be or I know that it's going to be super interesting in in the sprints and uh when you see all the horsepowers uh in in different teams how they're going to battle each other in the sprint. Uh it would be will be really nice to watch from the from the couch. You touched on that it wouldn't have worked with you and Nazolo in the same team and if I think back was it 2011 at HTC when you and Mark Cavendish were briefly teammates in HTC together and was it the same feeling then that you're just like you can't have two fast two of the fastest guys in the world on the same team just it's not possible. No, I just uh wanted to say with this that uh money got free so they could uh go for it. That's what I wanted to say. I I mean there are a lot of uh lot of races around and I think the Jako is a much better climate than myself. Uh and here is the focus more on the Jirealia Milan San Ramo. So I think it could have worked really well uh if we would have been both together because yeah there are plenty of races around. Um but with you and Car back in 2011 you didn't feel that was compatible. Uh let's say we are both the same type of sprinters and we both knew that uh first we had to benefit from one of the best teams around there in the leadouts. What a lead out that HTC team was. It was incredible. It was not just the A team. We also said were super strong with the B team. Uh we won in the world five stages. Uh we won so many races. Um but on the other side uh when I want would would have been a sport director. Uh I never I think it would have been super difficult to to take the take me or Mark I would say. I'm not quite sure with the same lead out Mark had I I would have won already to the front stages beforehand. Um but yeah, at the end of the day he won all the races. So uh the sport directors and the team got it right. Um but I also proved it in the other races that I in my point of view I I belong to the tour of France and uh battle for the stage there and uh that's why I choose for a different team. And what was the relationship like between you and Mark? Let's say the media always made it bigger than it was. Um we really respected each other. Uh Marcus is a really good guy. Uh he really knows how to how to behave and also how to handle uh staff members etc. Um but let's say at the end it comes down to the sportive uh point of view and uh I think this made it difficult to really get a good connection together. Yeah. Was it that was 2011 I'm trying to think worlds 2011 was Copenhagen where Kav were so you were two fastest in the world. You and Kav were first and second in Copenhagen that year. I was third tours. Who was it? Gus. Yeah. Yeah. Matthew Gus. Yeah. Oh, that's a good memory. I pulled that one out. Yeah. Uh that was uh yeah, one of the uh one of the things I really wanted to have this rainbow jersey. But yeah, with all the circumstances in the national team, we had uh things just went wrong and we just had two guys in the final with myself the last 50 kilometers, which uh doesn't make it easier in the world championship. And so you're moving on from HTC into Lotto. And when I think of Andre Griel, I think of immediately hands in the air, winning bunch sprints in a lotto jersey. It feels like that was the most fruitful period of your career. Do you look back on Lotto as the peak? Um, when I went to Lotto, I was uh 28 when I did my first tour of France and it was uh time for me to to get there to the tour of France and uh yeah, make that childhood dream come true. Um, and yeah, uh, I'm I'm just really grateful and happy that I made that choice because I really, uh, got a got a team together and, uh, also the trust of the the sponsors and also the team, uh, manages to to really put this team behind me and also uh, start winning races and um, yeah, it was really nice that I got all this uh, trust and uh, Yeah, that I could also prove it at the end with victories.

Carrying the Pressure of a Sprint Team

And how how we you know a lot of listeners to the podcast, they understand that cycling is a team sport and they understand there's a level of sacrifice on it. But how much of a burden on your shoulders is that level of sacrifice and everybody on a given sprint stage, even the entire staff, the entire focus is Andre Griel. You need broad shoulders, it would seem, to carry that level of sacrifice. Did that ever bother you or did it weigh heavy on you? I would lie if I said if I would say now that it didn't bother me. Um, let's say I always tried to to share uh the pressure I had on all the shoulders which with the riders I I took part in all the races, but it never worked out. Uh because yeah, mentally you're always stressed when you lost a sprint. Uh you take it with you in the night and you you're thinking a lot about it and the next day you have the pressure again. It wasn't easy. I'm I'm I'm honest. But uh I had uh really good uh teammates around me who supported me with a lot of uh things was going in my head and uh also uh they knew how to turn the screws uh that I'm totally convinced that they deliver me and uh it sometimes I never believed in it. Uh but uh yeah uh I just at the end I just trusted my teammate and they delivered me which made it sometimes more and more easy. Um but I'm I'm honest that uh sometimes it wasn't easy to handle all the pressure. It's got to be hard for one of these guys in the tour as well where you ride on day one, you control a break, you bring the brake back, you deliver the perfect lead out, and then you lose the sprint and then day two they do the exact same thing and maybe you don't win the sprint again. For them to rally and to do the same again on the third day, on the fourth day, and then eventually you win a sprint, it takes some trust. It's some level of sacrifice and the pressure just must build and build and build each consecutive day that it doesn't work. Exactly. Uh but I think everybody is super professional when you when you know you have one of the fastest guys in in the in the bunch in your team. Uh it's it's just something you have to do there because you're you're taking part in the biggest races of the world. And uh when you got told to chase a breakaway down then you do it. And uh by doing this you also trust your teammate. Um but yeah uh let's say I never got the impression that the teammates were angry with myself when I lost the race. I I felt angry or I felt uh felt sorry for them because they really killed killed themselves to deliver me. Um but yeah they they were also really good in telling me that hey that we're going to do it the next day better and uh let's say we we all knew that if everything comes together and uh we do what we can do best then we are hard to beat and that's what we all trusted to each other because yeah we we were called a train uh but a train just works as as good as the the smallest engine let's Andre, how does prize money work on a race like the tour to France? Uh, so like if I go to my local criterium and I have five teammates and I win the criterium, we just split it. We split the 40 euro five ways and we buy ourselves a coffee each at the end. But how does it work? Do you guys split prize money evenly or does that differ from team to team? It depends of course which races you are doing? Um but at the let's say to the front stage uh I I don't take the prize money. I just uh share them with the teams. Uh that's that's it normally works like this. Um yeah. And why is that? Cuz you'd have a bonus in your contract for winning a tour stage. I mean I can I can speak uh because I'm not inciting anymore. I I I had a bonus uh especially also for to the front stage wins and uh I I can honestly say that I never took the bonus. I shared it with the whole team. So everybody knew that I have a bonus. Everybody worked for it. So they also uh needed that bonus and they also deserve that bonus. So I share just especially in the tours I just share it with the riders who took part there. You see Andre this is why you have the reputation as one of the nicest guys in cycling. Yeah. Well what what what can I say? I mean I think it was a really good tool to motivate the team. Um I I I earned good money.

Leaving Lotto After Milan-San Remo Crash

Uh but for me it was also important that the guys around me also earns earn good money. So that was uh I mean I wouldn't negotiate the contract if I wouldn't trust myself by winning a lot of races like this. Uh so it it was just a really nice tool. So we we talked about that lotto period and it's you know such an amazingly successful period. I don't know how many of your 158 wins came there but it feels like a lot. But for me, it seemed like as you're leaving Lotto, I was kind of like, why is he leaving lotto? Why why not finish the career at Lotto? The sponsor wasn't going anywhere. It seemed like you had, you know, still a lot of race wins to deliver there. The Leo train still looked pretty good. Did something happen, you know, with management or was it just time for a change? Well, there was a new manager was coming. Um unfortunately this year that year I made it I tried Milan San Ramo a lot of times but uh I made it the first time over the porch and I crashed in the descent and I broke my collarbone. Oh what year was that? So uh it was 18 the year I left lotto. Ah um so we were just I think 30 guys left and I was still there uh with five teammates. Would have been a good year. I I'm quite sure but yeah I crashed out so the spring was finished and uh on that evening the management told me that um yeah uh you did so well and uh yeah let's negotiate the contract for the upcoming years I said yeah I'm free now anyway so I I can't go anywhere but this offer never never came and they played with my balls um the new manager was there and yeah they didn't want to offer me a contract. Um, so I was just uh sure, okay, I'm I'm I'm I'm now injured. So I going to approve them that I I'm still there. So I went to 40 days of Dunak after I think 12 12 weeks away. Uh, and I directly won two stages and second overall by one second. I lost it. But uh, yeah. Um, I got a contract offer 2 days before the start of the tour to France and uh, which was one/ird of my salary. So, I just said, "Okay, now I'm not going to sign this. I I really saved your ass now for a couple of years or a lot of years." And I just unrespectful and also they didn't want to offer a contract to my leadout guys and CBA. So for me it was just a sign that they didn't want to work with me together anymore and uh so I left. But it's so ruthless. Like one of the greatest sprinters ever still currently on the roster and it's it's the sport is so ruthless like that. Like it's I suppose you're you're so in demand and you're so loved and they're blowing smoke up your ass for so long and then like that flick of a switch you're surplus to requirements and a one toward contract offer is like a slap in the face. Yeah, exactly. Uh I felt uh yeah unrespected in in that way. Uh on the other side, of course, they signed Calabune already before. Uh but they never I I knew it for sure. I'm not stupid, but they never talked with me about it. So, uh I wouldn't have a problem at all to to write for Caleb. Uh and like I said before, there are a lot of sport. Uh I also forgot uh in that offer I got there was also written that I'm not allow or that I'm not going to do grand tours anymore and uh monuments and all these things. And I said, "Yeah, but why why why am I a professional bike rider then? This is what I'm training for every day." Um yeah, let's say I was a bit uh yeah, also a bit too uh unrealistic that it got to work in a different team, just myself, which also didn't work out. Um but yeah, let's say this was uh the end of a a really great uh eight years there in in Lotto and I also would have really liked to end my career in the team. And do you have any regrets looking back on your career? Is there anything you would have done differently? Well, no. I would I would do every everything exactly the same. Also, the year with the French team was a really really nice uh life experience. I got to know a really nice uh language. I got to know uh the the way uh the French uh see cycling a little bit and uh also the French teammates were nice. Uh it was just not the team I fitted in perfectly. So, I I just tried to uh split the contract or end it end the contract after one year. And I'm also super happy that they gave me this opportunity to uh go with Israel in that in that moment.

Life After Retirement

Well, Israel seems a fun team. I've had I've had a lot of the Israel guys on the podcast because I've had Rick, I had Alex Dit, I had Rusty Woods, and now we're still counting you as Israel because you had the contract offer. So, you four four of the guys, but everybody is so nice. It seems like such a good vibe in Israel. Yeah, that makes it a lot uh easier when you travel with with good good teammates around and uh yeah to not have uh just fun on the bike or or that you that you kill each other uh for for deliver your captain. Um that makes it easier when you really come along with each other besides cycling as well. Um, so it was always a lot of fun there. And do you miss the in Ireland we call it the crack. Do you miss the buzz of the team bus being around the guys dayto day the kind of testosterone male charge bouncing off each other breaking your heart laughing. Are you missing that environment? I don't I don't miss psych cycling races, let's say, because I knew what you need to do to be up there and I just didn't have the head to do to do it anymore. I really like to suffer and I still do do it in training. Uh but I'm honest uh the first four days when I really was uh 1 of January and I was the first day not a professional bike rider, it was not easy for the head. The first four days I wouldn't wouldn't call it depressive but uh I was I was not I was just sad not to be around and not to having the goals to go out uh in the rain training and uh because I don't need to anymore but uh just to have this goal okay next thing is training camp and then we prepare the next races this is all uh things you have to adopt now and you've spoke about throughout your career and it's something that always it sat very nicely with me and I even though this is the first time we've spoken one of the reasons I always thought you Andre is a really good guy you always mention your family and the central role of how important your family has been in your career I've heard you in so many interviews talking about it but it's got to be an adjustment for the family as well because they're used to having you home and then you're gone and then you're home and then you're gone now it's like hey honey I'm here all day long what do you want me to who I know that I just uh can't stay around uh at home so much. So, I'm quite busy to be honest. Um I have some good challenges uh besides cycling. Um and I'm I'm looking forward to to prepare them. But yeah, when it comes back to the family, of course, they really they really notice more and more now that I'm at home. Um, and I'm I I I think I have more homework to do now. Uh, and also the kids, they really like it that I'm around. And uh, yeah. Yeah. Can bring them to bed every day now. And, uh, wake them up in the morning. Uh, making the bread for school. All these things I've I've done already already before. Uh but now I do it every day which is also nice and I can honestly say uh you're getting used to it uh a lot to sleep every day in your bed. What is the sorry you mentioned the side projects you're working on outside a cycling. What's kind of occupying your time now? So I'm uh working for UIX uh helmets and glasses. Amazing. Um on on the performance side, UX was a really uh big brand in cycling a lot of years ago and it was just the benchmark for for all the other companies. Um, so that's what I'm trying to uh help to get to to bring in my expertise uh all my experiences I had and uh to to close this gap between riders and the need uh and what what is possible in a company to deliver the best performance material. You know what's been a pet peeve of mine? I had a couple of like every bike rider I've had a couple of crashes and you know one or two concussions. I rode the Ros we call it the Ross here like the tour of Ireland. It's like a 2.2 back like 2014 2015 but I had a crash. I've done that. Have you done that race? I've done it. Yeah, exactly. 2001. Ah I didn't know that but I I had a KO crash where I can't even remember what happened. somebody went down in front of me and next thing I woke up in hospital like blackout and it after that I had a concussion for I'm going to say a month and you know we're starting to understand and realize more about concussion in sport but helmets there doesn't seem to be an incentive in helmets to innovate around safety all the innovation seems to be around style even the marketing of helmets very little is around safety and it's like given we talk about sprints in Tora Palonia 95 km ometers an error.

Helmet Safety and Rider Voice

It's like the helmets are so poor. Um when when it comes down now to to UIX, I just can say that company has a has a slogan and uh it's called protecting people. So that's the first thing they say. Uh they make nice helmets. Uh but the first thing is the safety of riders and uh there are for sure helmets out there who who doesn't deserve a license. For sure there are if you're around um but the knowledge I got now in the last days and weeks about helmets is quite insane. And if I would have had this knowledge as a bike rider, I would choose uh maybe different. I was on a team a few years ago in Ireland, the Aqua Blue. They actually briefly stepped up to being a professional team and they rode the Valta. But we had a helmet sponsor. It was Celeb was the helmet sponsor. The helmets were so poor. I had a training crash and the helmet flew off and it went across the street. The helmet was and it was properly adjusted. Perfect. And so we went back to the team director and we're like like we can't wear these helmets. Like you can't lead somebody out for a sprint in these helmets. Like somebody will die. They're not safe. But it doesn't seem like riders have much of a choice in, you know, equipment supplies or maybe senior riders might have a little bit of a choice. But I wonder is that something we're going to see changing? more of a a voice from the senior riders in choosing safer equipments. I think this should be uh like this in in in all teams that this uh protection is super important and I I think also this u concussion protocol which is uh now uh with the with the race directors and uh also with the race doctor um brings this more and more into the focus in my opinion and uh there's nothing wrong to to have a good looking helmet and also know that this helmet protects you in in any case. Of course, we don't have a full head protection, but uh where the helmet is on the head, it needs to be the best possible. And uh that's uh yeah, that's a that's a big challenge uh but also a nice goal because do you remember was a tour to California a few years ago? We had the EF rider who crashed. Uh maybe they were Cannondale. They weren't quite EF then. I think they Yeah, Tom Sk. Yeah. Like how scary was that? Super scary. And uh then I just can refer to the guy who who put him back on the bike. He just should have just put him on the side of the road and uh it was just wrong. And especially also see all this in on TV. Uh, Andre, finishing up. Last question. What's the next 12 months hold? If you're back on the podcast in 12 months time and we're chatting, what has to happen between now and then for you to go, "What a year. Best year ever." Uh, that I still have the same weight like now. That would be super nice. I I I have to say that it's quite a challenge to keep the weight. Uh, the belly is growing. Uh but I'm also still quite active and try to go against it. Uh because it's just the way I don't want to see myself with a belly, let's say. But let's say I just uh in one year I just want to be happy with the things I'm doing and uh that's what I try to find out. Andre 11 tour of France stages, seven jural stages, four of welter stages, three national championships, andund and what did we say? 64 professional wins. You've been a great servant to the sport and thanks for joining me for a chat today. Thanks a lot for having me.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What makes an elite sprinter different from other cyclists?+

André Greipel explains that elite sprinters combine raw power with the tactical intelligence to read a sprint from within the peloton and commit fully in the final metres. The ability to hold a high top speed while navigating traffic at 70 km/h separates the best from the rest. Positioning, timing, and nerve are just as important as raw wattage.

What is the difference between a kamikaze sprinter and a gentleman sprinter?+

Greipel draws a clear distinction between sprinters who will take any gap regardless of the danger to themselves or others, and those who refuse to win in a way that puts fellow riders at serious risk. He places Fabio Jakobsen and Dylan Groenewegen in the kamikaze category. The gentleman sprinter still competes fiercely but maintains a line others can race around safely.

How many Tour de France stages did André Greipel win?+

André Greipel won 11 Tour de France stages during his professional career, making him one of the most successful sprinters in the race's history. He retired with more than 158 professional victories in total. Only a handful of riders have matched that level of consistency across the major Tours.

Why do modern Grand Tour winners retire earlier than previous generations?+

Greipel argues that the professionalisation of cycling now demands total lifestyle commitment, including strict nutrition, structured training, and constant performance monitoring, which the body and mind cannot sustain indefinitely. Previous generations had more flexibility in how they approached recovery and lifestyle away from racing. As a result, today's young Grand Tour winners are unlikely to compete at the highest level into their late thirties the way some older champions did.

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