André Greipel is the most successful rider in the modern history of the Tour of Turkey but in the first two sprints in 2015, he has come up short. After he was boxed in by Sacha Modolo and Mark Cavendish on stage 1, he finished 21st in today's sprint.

Greipel has just come back to racing after a successful classics campaign and is using the Turkish race to build condition for the Giro d'Italia.

“For me, it’s just a race to build up for the Giro d’Italia,” Greipel told VeloNews. “I’m not in top condition yet, but it’s not the aim now to be in top condition.

“The condition cannot be all gone from the classics, we have a good team here for the sprints, so sprinting is always possible with whatever condition you have.”

Greipel was still frustrated by the incident that took him out of contention in stage 1.

“I think I was still in a good spot and was about to get a good result, but it just didn’t work out — but we still have a lot of racing left and I’m confident in myself and my team we will reach our goals," he said.