"The best is to drop her before the sprint": André Greipel’s plan to end Lorena Wiebes' dominance

Lorena Wiebes has long proven to be the best sprinter in the women's peloton, in a league of her own compared to the rest. Despite her aura of invincibility, André Greipel has a seemingly simple solution to beat her: get rid of her before the line.

The German sprint legend, now in his second season working with UAE Team ADQ, is bringing his vast experience to help the team challenge the dominance of Team SD Worx - Protime at their home race.

Since taking over the Alé-BTC Ljubljana license four years ago, UAE Team ADQ has evolved into a super-team, a status cemented by the signing of Elisa Longo Borghini for the 2025 season. After Longo Borghini delivered GC titles at both the Giro d'Italia Women and the UAE Tour Women last year, the pressure is on to repeat the feat in 2026.

However, the team's ambitions extend beyond the general classification. With Greipel (one of the best sprinters ever with 158 professional victories) now stepping up his involvement, the squad is aiming for sprint victories against the peloton's fastest woman, Lorena Wiebes.

"The best is to drop her before the sprint, that's the safest way," Greipel told Cyclingnews ahead of the second stage. "Yesterday we were close, you just have to grab every chance you can do to prepare a really good lead out and if she's out of position we can manage to beat her, but for the moment it's quite difficult because she hardly makes mistakes and obviously she's the fastest at the moment."

Despite Wiebes' dominance, UAE Team ADQ came very close on both stages 1 and 3, as Lara Gillespie finished second in both occassions. Greipel, who actively scouts the race routes to provide intelligence on crosswinds and finishing straights, believes patience and perfection are crucial.

"You can see that she steps on the pedals she's way far ahead of the other sprinters her, but there's always a moment when she also can do mistakes and we need to take profit from that. We try to perform as a team, especially in the lead outs, we trust the sprinter who's at the end of the lead out, that's what we want to improve throughout the season, but I already think that creates pressure for her."

Greipel retired in 2021 with 158 professional victories. Transitioning from the men's WorldTour to coaching in the women's peloton has been an eye-opening experience for the 43-year-old, primarily due to the athletes' willingness to learn.

"For sure the men they are longer in the sport than some women, [there are] women in the bunch who picked up cycling maybe three years ago, so every day is a teaching process and they can learn something new."

"They are really open to listen and learn what a sport director has to say, a trainer or even myself, also they are really open to get feedback. They want to learn and in men's cycling it's a bit different, everybody knows a bit better," he said.

As the women's peloton becomes more physically equal, Greipel argues that tactical intelligence is becoming the deciding factor.

"I think it is really helpful if you have someone who can tell them in certain scenarios what would be a good idea during the race and I think this would make the difference now to make the right choices and tactics," he concluded.