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André Greipel shows off his swim moves on the rainy start line of Paris-Nice

The first one to roll up, Greipel had a job to do with two teammates defending jerseys

AndreGreipel

Ahead of the final stage of Paris-Nice, which is often called the race to the sun, André Greipel of Lotto-Soudal stood at the start line alone waiting for his teammates and fellow competitors. It was a rainy 110 km affair in Nice but the German sprinter was never-the-less in very good spirits before the start excited to help his teammates who held two classification leader jerseys.

Covered head to tow in rain gear, Greipel showed off his swim moves to the camera before being joined on the line. While many riders waited sheltered in team buses and heavy rain fell, the German was undeterred.

Greipel and Lotto-Soudal successfully defended the climber’s jersey worn by Thomas De Gendt and the green points jersey of Tim Wellens during the rainy stage. Greipel wouldn’t finish the stage but his job was done and he certainly wasn’t the only one to abandon with only 78 stage finishers on the day.

In the end, it was Spaniard Marc Soler of Movistar who attacked early and accompanied by compatriots Davide De La Cruz (Team Sky) and Omar Fraile (Astana) would forge ahead of the bunch and secure a 35-second advantage on the fine. It was enough for the 24-year-old Soler who won the Tour of l’Avenir in 2015 to secure to overall title ahead of Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) and Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain Merida).