Like all the sprinters, Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) struggled during the hilly tenth stage of the Giro d'Italia. He has used his muscle and power to win two sprint stages so far but had to haul his bulk over the numerous climbs on the road to Sestola so that he could have a shot at victory possibly on Wednesday's stage to Asolo, and more certainly on Thursday's pan-flat stage to Bibione, north of Venice.
Greipel finished in one of the Giro d'Italia gruppetto, 27:33 down on stage winner Giulio Ciccone (Bardiani-CSF). The 21-year-old Italian neo-pro raced for 5:44:32; Greipel suffered for almost 30 minutes longer. After making it to the finish, he also had to climb the steps of the official race podium after taking the lead in the red jersey points competition.
"Today's not the best day to understand how I'm feeling but I made it to the finish today without any real trouble. For sure this Giro has been good for us, I'm happy and we hope it continues," he told Cyclingnews before heading to his team hotel.
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On Monday's rest day Greipel and several of his Lotto Soudal teammates took on the hectic Florence traffic to visit the Duomo in the centre of the Renaissance city, with the German posting a photo of himself in front of the Duomo on Twitter. He perhaps appreciated little of the rolling Apennines today but knows what is to come on the stages to Asolo and Bibione.
"You always have to find some inspiration even in a Grand Tour and Florence is a special city, so it was worth the visit. It's good to take some memories home and not only about cycling," he said.
"I think tomorrow (Wednesday's stage) is going to be a hard day because the finale is pretty tough, so I don't really expect there will be a bunch sprint. We haven't planned our tactics yet but we'll see what happens and be ready just in case the race comes back together. For sure I think the finish in Bibione will be a chance for the sprinters."
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