Andre Greipel will try to get revenge after yesterday's disappointment in the Gent-Wevelgem when he lines up in the Driedaagse de Panne tomorrow. The big German will lead a Lotto-Belisol team completely focused on the bunch sprints.

Driedaagse van de Panne may have a reputation as a preparation race for the Tour of Flanders, but for a wide range of sprinters the Flemish stage race is an important objective in its own right. One of those is Andre Greipel who will be the sole leader of the Lotto-Belisol team.

The race consists of four stages. It starts with a hard stage in the Flemish Ardennes containing a number of the short, steep climbs which are a key ingredient in the Tour of Flanders while the stages on Wednesday and Thursday morning are more likely to end up in bunch sprints. However, crosswinds may change the script and turn calm affairs into epic battles. The race ends with a short time trial Thursday afternoon.

Greipel won the hard opening stage in 2011 and with the German in good condition, sports director Bart Leysen expects his captain to pose a threat in all road stages.

“André Greipel is our leader," he said. "The first stage into the Flemish Ardennes is always the toughest one. But André has proven in the past that he can cope with this kind of course and can play along in the final. It will depend on how many of our men will be there because there will definitely be a selection. We have to make the race and Tosh Van der  Sande can probably also play his part in this stage. Of course we always have to see how the stage develops, but we will play the cards of André and Tosh. The second stage will probably end in a bunch sprint. There are a lot of sprinter’s teams at the start. We will definitely go for one victory in the Three Days of De Panne - Koksijde.”

Greipel is actually not bad in a shorter time trials, and if he manages to get plenty of bonus seconds throughout the opening stages, the German sprinter may even go for the overall victory.

With Marcel Sieberg and Jürgen Roelandts both resting ahead of the Tour of Flanders, Greipel will not be assisted by his usual formidable lead-out train. The final man in that train, Greg Henderson, will be on the start line tomorrow, but the German will otherwise have to rely on young sprinters Frederique Robert, Jonas Vangenechten, Kenny Dehaes and Tosh Van Der Sande to set up the sprints. Another man with plenty of lead-out experience, Vicente Reynes, will also be part of the team which is completed by Maarten Neyens who will mostly play a domestique role throughout the race.

Starting tomorrow at 14.45, you can follow all the action on CyclingQuotes.com/live. Until then, you can prepare by studying our preview.

Lotto-Belisol for the Driedaagse van de Panne

Andre Greipel, Greg Henderson, Tosh Van Der Sande, Jonas Vangenechten, Frederique Robert, Kenny Dehaes, Vicente Reynes and Maarten Neyens