Andre Greipel missed out on the Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne
Andre Greipel was truly the only man who challenged Mark Cavendish at the Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne.
However, the UCI World Champion received immense support from the British team and made it impossible for the German cyclist. Greipel was clearly disappointed after the race.
“At 300m from the finish line I was confident that I could not lose the sprint. Then Van Hummel swerved from right to left and there was no more space for me. I should’ve gone earlier,” he noted.
Mark Cavendish finished the 198 kilometre race in an overall time of 4 hours, 27 minutes and 30 seconds, with Yauheni Hutarovich claiming the second position.
Dutch cyclist Kenny Robert Van Hummel secured the third spot while Arnaud Demare and Alexander Serebryakov finished at the fourth and fifth positions, respectively.
Andre Greipel of Team Lotto-Belisol had an ideal opportunity to gab his first classics win of the season.
However, he could not get his guts together during the final kilometres of the race and had to settle for the tenth spot.
The 29-year-old had a marvellous start to his 2012 campaign and grabbed as many as six victories in the young season.
He succeeded at the very first race of the UCI Pro Tour, Cancer Council Helpline Classic and also secured three stages at the Santos Tour Down Under.
Andre managed to fill his bag with two stage victories at the Tour of Oman.
He explained that his wins at the Tour Down Under and the Tour of Oman gave him considerable confidence and he was feeling good to bag yet another the victory at the Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne.
The German was furious on his tenth place finish and explained that his team helped him throughout the race.
Although he was right behind Mark Cavendish, he failed to continue his lead close to the finish-line.
"I saw them coming on the right. Then [Kenny] Van Hummel swerved from right to left. I didn't have any more space and my sprint was over. I waited two seconds too long to accelerate and got boxed in. It's all decided in a fraction of a second. I should've gone earlier," Greipel completed.
Greipel will now target the French races ,scheduled next month, to grab his first classics victory of the new season.
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