Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) said arrivederci to the Giro d'Italia with a third stage victory at stage 12 in Bibione. He defending his move to close the door on Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEdge) in the final sprint, along with his decision to quit the race and head home to rest up and prepare for the Tour de France and other goals that lay ahead in his long season of racing.
He insisted the decision to leave the Giro, even while leading the points classification and wearing the red jersey, was not from a lack of respect to the Giro d'Italia organisation.
"Of course I have a lot of respect for the Giro d'Italia," he argued.
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"But I had a really difficult start to the season with injuries and lack of training. I fought hard to be in shape for the Giro. Before we started we said that stage 12 would be my last stage, no matter what happens. I didn't really want to leave while wearing the red jersey but the team and myself made decision together because I'm a human, not a machine.
"I was already fighting hard on Tuesday's stage to Sestola and now I have to prepare for my up coming goals. Looking at my programme from last year, we saw it was best preparation for the season, so I'm trying to stick to this plan with the team and my trainer.
"I understand the fans might not be happy with my decision it but I hope to come back to fight for the red jersey one time."
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