The best sprinter in 2015 was not Marcel Kittel (Giant-Alpecin) or Mark Cavendish (Etixx-Quick Step). It was Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal). The 33-year-old celebrated a total of 16 victories, including no less than four stage wins in the Tour de France.

"If someone had told me before the season how it would go, I would have signed right away. The team and I can be very proud of the results,” Greipel told radsport-news.com.

For yhe double German champion, his triumph at the end of the Tour de France on the Champs Elysées was most important. "That was childhood dream come true for me. It was simply outstanding how we rode the final stage as a team," said the Lotto captain. In front of hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic spectators, Greipel again left all his rivals behind him in the last bunch sprint of the 2015 Tour and so was Kittel's successor after his compatriot had won two years in a row in Paris.

With his grandiose Tour performances, Greipel also got confirmation that he season plan was right. After he had used the Tour Down Under to start the season for years, he decided against the Australian race and opted for a later season opener, the Mallorca Challenge. The aim of this change was to increase the quality of his victories and tackle the highlights of the season with fewer race days in the legs.

This was an unquestionable success as 2015 brought a lot more wins than those in the Tour. Greipel won a stage of the Giro d'Italia, in Paris-Nice and at the Eneco Tour. Furthermore, he took his first win at the Vattenfall Cyclassics in Hamburg, his first victory in a one-day race at WorldTour level.

But Greipel not only impressed with his results. In the spring classics, the top sprinter delivered a superior performance as a precious domestique Jurgen Roelandts and Tiesj Benoot. "But I think that we, despite the good performance, failed to achieve the best result in the classics. But those are complaints at a high level. In reality, everything went great," said Greipel who even finished 15th at the Tour of Flanders after a very aggressive performance.

After his previous best year as a professional, Greipel sees no reason to change his racing calendar. "The experiment was a success, so I'll maintain them,” he announced about the coming season. Greipel will probably again start at the Mallorca Challenge. The targets will only be slightly changed.

"The highlights will be the Tour and the Worlds in Qatar where I want to be World Champion with the German team," said Greipel who had to settle for a domestique role at the last two Worlds races. On the flat course in Doha, Greipel could enjoy his finest hour on October 16.