André Greipel bows out on distinguished career: 'It's finished now, but I did my maximum'

Sprint supreme André Greipel competed in the final race of his professional career at the Münsterland Giro yesterday, as he retires from professional cycling with a 10th place finish in Germany.

Greipel announced in July during the Tour de France that he was planning to retire from the sport at the end of the season, and he did so in his home country as he helped his Israel Start-Up Nation team-mate Alexis Renard to second-place.

"It's finished now, but I did my maximum," Greipel said, the German in a positive mood directly following the conclusion of the race.

"There was nothing more in the legs today, so I'm happy now that this day has finished and now I'll try to continue thinking positively for the future and see what happens."

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ISN teammates Greipel and Renard both made several attacks during the race to get away from the front group, but their attempts were thwarted as the event ended in a sprint. Frenchman Renard launched his sprint first but Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck Quick-Step) managed to overtake him in the final few metres to win.

Greipel, who is retiring at 39-years-old, finished 90 seconds behind Cavendish, but that didn't stop the German fans from applauding their fellow countryman on a distinguished career as he crossed the line for the final time. 

The sprinter achieved 158 victories over a 19-year career, including 22 stage victories at Grand Tours: 11 at the Tour de France, seven at the Giro d'Italia, and four at the Vuelta a España. Greipel also won the points classification at the 2009 Vuelta a España plus the overall title at the Tour Down Under in both 2008 and 2010. 

Greipel hangs up his bike a year before his contract with Israel Start-Up Nation was due to expire and now moves onto the next stage of his life.