Andre Greipel’s Ridley Noah Fast has been given a custom paintjob for the Tour de France to celebrate the sprinter’s new status as German national champion.

The Lotto-Belisol rider outsprinted Milan-San Remo winner Gerald Ciolek (MTN-Qhubeka) and John Degenkolb, who will lead Argos-Shimano at the Tour alongside Marcel Kittel, in Wangen to claim his first national road race title.

Greipel is nicknamed The Gorilla and a gorilla’s head, complete with a mohican in the colours of the German flag, takes pride of place on the headtube, while flashes of black, red and yellow feature elsewhere on the predominantly white frame.

The Ridley Noah Fast is the Belgian company’s aero machine. Ridley’s proprietary F-Brake is integrated with the fork and seatstays to improve aerodynamics, while the F-Splitfork is said to reduce drag by 8.2 per cent by drawing turbulent air away from the spokes.

Greipel will start the Tour de France, which begins in Corsica on Saturday June 29, as part of a stellar sprint line-up which includes 23-time stage winner Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) and 2012 green jersey holder Peter Sagan (Cannondale Pro Cycling).