Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) was the one to open up the sprint in yesterday's second stage of the Driedaagse van de Panne. However, the strong headwind meant that the fast German ran out of gas, and he admitted that the team had made a mistake in the approach to the sprint.
Andre Greipel seemed to be in the perfect position to challenge for his first victory since the Tour Mediteraneen in February as Kenny Dehaes delivered him at the front with 300 meters to go. Due to the strong headwind, it was, however, a bad decision to lead out the sprint, and the big German had to settle for 12th.
Afterwards, he admitted that they had approached the sprint wrongly.
"We made a mistake," he told SportWereld. "No, I made a mistake. I should have stayed in Cavendish' wheel. The rider who hits the front first, will lose in such a strong headwind. And that rider was me. It was my fault."
"I told Kenny that he should not bring me to the front so early. So we are both at fault. I could just have stayed where I was."
With Greipel's usual lead-out man Greg Henderson not starting the race and the other members of his famous train, Jurgen Roelandts and Marcel Sieberg, both resting ahead of the Tour of Flanders, Dehaes is not usually a part of Greipel's lead-out. He admitted his fault, but said that it was all part of his learning process.
"I open up just before the corner - not after we have passed the bend," he said. "But it is my first time as a lead-out man. I still have a lot to learn."
That learning experience will have to be postponed a little. Greipel did not start the morning stage due to a sore throat, and instead Dehaes is expected to fight for himself in the expected bunch sprint.
You can follow all the action form the final day of racing in De Panne on CyclingQuotes.com/live. Starting at 10.15 and 14.45 respectively, we will deliver live updates from both of today's stages.
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