André Greipel has taken 139 victories in his 12-year career, making him one of the most successful sprinters of a gifted generation, with more doubtless to come. The German powerhouse took Procycling's Edward Pickering through the most significant and memorable of his wins
The first win
Tour of Denmark 2005
Stage 6, Slagelse-Frederiksberg (Copenhagen)
My first win ever as a pro was in Copenhagen at the Tour of Denmark, in 2005. It was my first year as a pro and the whole of the race had been good for me – I already had a second and a third.
This was the first race where my team Wiesenhof had let me sprint for myself. I'd won a lot of races as an amateur, also in the sprints, but I'd been lucky to turn pro because at that time it was not easy for German riders to get contracts.
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It's a special sprint in Copenhagen – you need a good position because it's quite a tricky circuit with a lot of corners in the final. You have to have a really good position already with three or four kilometres to the finish, otherwise you are too far back. I had good support from my teammates Sebastian Siedler and Ralf Grabsch. Ivan Basso went for a solo attack but Siedler made a lot of moves to bring me into a good wheel and I had a good position. In the last kilometre I was following Graeme Brown [who came fourth] and I could come round him.
I didn't imagine back then that I would go on to win 139 races. I always had the will to fight, to be there, and to get the chances to show myself. In the end it was just nice to get a first race win.
1: André Greipel
2: Tomas Vaitkus
3: Paride Grillo
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