Columbia-HTC's Andre Greipel celebrated his victory in the points jersey competition in the Tour of Spain with a bunch sprint win in the final stage into Madrid. 
The German powered across the final finish line for his fouth stage win in the Vuelta, his first points jersey in a Grand Tour and his nineteenth victory of the 2009 season. 


Photo by Tim de Waele/tdwsport.com

"The green jersey was very difficult to get because this was such a mountainous Vuelta, but in the build-up to the sprints I could count on a lot of support from my teammates, and that made all the difference," Greipel said afterwards. "I had the best lead-out of all of the sprinters here, particularly thanks to my [Columbia-HTC] teammates Marcel Sieberg and Greg Henderson. I came to this Tour of Spain thinking I could maybe win one stage, and I came away with four and the team got five. Plus I won the points classification. That's amazing." 
Talking about his final win in Madrid, Greipel said "With two kilometres to go I was a bit far back, but [teammate] Greg Henderson did a brilliant job taking me through to the front end of the bunch. It was a bit uphill so I waited a little longer than usual for accelerating away for the finish. Everybody in the team helped. I was just the lucky one who got to cross the line in first place." 


Photo by Tim de Waele/tdwsport.com

With six stage wins in the Giro d'Italia and another six in the Tour de France, today's win is Columbia-HTC's seventeenth victory in a Grand Tour this season. Greipel's latest triumph brings the squad's 2009 total of wins to 84, just one fewer than their recordbreaking total of 85 in 2008.