André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) will also skip the Tour Down Under in the 2016 season and he will again use the Giro d’Italia to prepare for the Tour de France. The double German champion confirmed the news in an interview with radsport-news.com.

"I think that it was a successful attempt. Therefore I'll stick to it and the other riders will do so too," said Greipel regarding the changes he made for the 2015 season.

Until 2015, Greipel always started his season at the Tour Down Under where he has taken a total of 16 stage wins and two overall victories. For 2015 he started significantly later and with four stage wins in the Tour de France he proved that it was the right decision.