After reconnoitring the Paris-Roubaix course with his teammates on Thursday, André Greipel says is ready to go on the attack this weekend. The Lotto-Soudal rider, who will once again be playing a supporting role for his teammate Jürgen Roelandts, says that the team need to grab the bull by the horns this weekend in their search of success.
"We have to see how the race develops. You have to look around and see how many guys are left after Arenberg. Hopefully we are still with six or seven riders from our team. From there you can just try to ride aggressively and don't wait for others to attack, we can do it," he told Cyclingnews at the team's hotel near Bruges.
Greipel was one of the most aggressive riders during Sunday's Tour of Flanders, attacking multiple times in the final 50 kilometres. The plan was to ensure that he was there at the front of the race when his teammates needed him most. Unfortunately the team were unable to put someone in the top three but Greipel was pleased that everything else played out as it should. "I think from our side, our team didn't do any mistakes, I think there were other teams that made more mistakes than us," he said.
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However, four days later, the German is paying for his huge efforts. He skipped Scheldeprijs, to the mirth of the organisers, and told Cyclingnews that he still didn't feel up to scratch during the recon.
"I don't know if it's from Flanders but the legs were not so good today. It means nothing it is only Thursday today," said Greipel. "I was just really tired. And today with how my legs are feeling, I think that it was the right decision to do. Of course it's not easy for the organisation of Scheldeprijs but I'm happy that the team could give me the opportunity to rest a little bit more and focus on Sunday."
A crash at last year's Gent-Wevelgem, which resulted in torn ligaments in his shoulder meant that Greipel was unable to ride last year's Paris-Roubaix. It was the first time he'd missed the race since he made his debut at the race in 2011. He scored his best result of 21st on that occasion and could be an outside contender for the team on Sunday, should anything go wrong. He has a love/hate relationship with the Hell of the North but believes that the team can make the podium if things go their way.
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