The whole world of cycling should expect a highly exciting quarrels at the flat stages of the Tour the France 101st edition, as all the top sprinters are sharpening their knifes to hit the top disposition just before the biggest stage racing event in the calendar kicks-off in July.

Just like his biggest rivals Marcel Kittel of Giant-Shimano and Omega Pharma-Quick Step’s Mark Cavendish, Andre Greipel targets the French grand tour as his main objective of 2014 season and thus, as he has admitted in the interview for Cyclism’actu, with a pain in his heart he is forced to skip the Giro d’Italia.

The German sprinter emphasized his willingness to participate in the Italian grand tour but also stated it would make it impossible to be optimally prepared to the Tour the France as a consequence, and thus the former of three-week races had to be sacrificed.

"I tried every possible way to include the Giro d’Italia in my calendar, as well as Mark Cavendish did last season. But in the end I acknowledged that this way it wouldn’t be possible to be fresh at the start of the Tour the France, which is my biggest goal."

This way the Lotto-Belisol sprinter is going to follow different racing program than his two main contenders, Kittel and Cavendish, both aiming to participate in the Giro d’Italia ahead of the Tour the France.