25-07-2008 21:51:18

Columbia sprinter Andrei Greipel took a tough win on Friday’s stage three of the Tour of Saxony - simultaneously bouncing back into the race's overall lead.

Greipel’s tenth win of the season came after three laps of a challenging finish circuit in the city of Frohburg, Germany and at the end of a grueling 242 kilometre stage.

“There was a break of eight away with two of our guys, Tony Martin and Bert Grabsch, in the move.” Greipel, who also won the opening stage of the five-day race, said. “We brought that back with two kilometres to go, and the team led me out for the win.”

“We’ve shown we were the strongest squad here, even if the victory was much more difficult this time round than on Wednesday, which was more of a straight bunch sprint.”

Greipel’s biggest challenge came on a three kilometre climb in the finishing circuit, “where I had a tough time just hanging on to the back of the group. There were only about 30 of us left in the front group after the climb.”

“But once we’d caught the breakaway, I got the perfect leadout from my squad and I was able to get the stage and the lead.”

Asked about his chances of defending his first place on Saturday’s potentially decisive 36 kilometre time trial at Grossenhain, Greipel said “I’ll just have to do my best.”

“The important thing is we’ve got some good time triallists here in our squad, like [German national time trial champion] Bert Grabsch, so we should be able to keep the lead inside the team. That’s really what counts.”

“Then there’s Sunday’s stage, which goes up to 800 metres and has three climbs, but even if it’s
difficult terrain, I’m in very good shape here and I’m not ruling anything out.”