André Greipel will make his season debut in Mallorca this week and will conclude the first part of his season at the Giro d'Italia. The German Lotto-Soudal sprinter, the most successful rider in 2014 with 15 wins, has changed his usual plans by skipping the Tour Down Under.

Greipel has confirmed his 2015 calendar which will be made up of European races: Challenge Mallorca (January 29-February 1), Volta ao Algarve (February 18-22), Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne (March 1), Paris-Nice (8-15), Milan-San Remo (22), Ghent-Wevelgem (29), Three Days of De Panne (March 29-April 2), Tour of Flanders (April 5), Paris-Roubaix (April 12) and the Giro d'Italia (May 9-31). In total, he will have 47 days of competition. His next goal is the Tour de France in July.

Since 2008, Greipel has always started at the Tour Down Under and has accumulated 16 wins and two overall victories in the Australian race. However, this year he has decided to start later to remain fresher for his big goals. This has also prompted him to skips the Tour of Qatar and Oman.

In 2015, he will ride his first races in Mallorca and Algarve and then he will do Paris-Nice. His first goals are the classics, with Kuurne, Sanremo and Ghent-Wevelgem being suited to his characteristics, while he will support the team in Flanders and Roubaix. Another novelty is his return to the Giro which he hasn’t done since 2010 when he won a stage to add to the one he took in 2008. He has six stage wins in the Tour de France and four in the Vuelta a Espana.

Last year he won 16 races but only three of them were at the WorldTour level: two Down Under and one in the Tour de France. He was national champion and won Brussels Cycling Classic. Two years ago he won 13 races and in 2012 he obtained 19 victories.