Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) underlined his status as Mr. Tour of Qatar when he beat André Greipel (Lotto Belisol) in the sprint to win the fourth stage of the desert race. Having averaged 56km/h in the short stage, the experienced Belgian described the race as one of the fastest of his life and is now hoping to day safe to keep his and Niki Terpstra's position at the top of the overall standings.

The 135km 4th stage at Tour of Qatar was fast and far from easy. The race speed averaged more than 56km/h, several riders dealt with punctures due to holes in the road, and the peloton split into several groups. However, Omega Pharma-Quick Step played their cards perfectly and remained in command throughout the race.

The team remained in the front group and were a factor in all the intermediate sprints to protect the GC lead of Niki Terpstra. Finally, they had the power to help Tom Boonen who was in 4th overall going into the stage. When the race came back together in the final kilometers, the team took control on the front to set up Boonen for his sprint.

Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) had other plans, but Boonen was able to take his second victory at the 2014 edition of the race — and the 22nd at the race in his career — with a bike throw. Barry Markus (Belkin Pro Cycling Team) was 3rd. The photo finish showed Boonen took the win by mere centimetres.

"It was one of the fastest races of my life," Boonen said. "I remember a race like this at Paris-Nice a few years ago, but today was another level of fast. As a team we never tried to split the group. We stayed united to avoid dangers on the road. Everybody survived through the first part of the race. We stayed in front and we never tried to make the race harder than what it was already with the wind. So, we stuck together and maintained some control.

"Near the finish I had the perfect leadout, especially from Andrew Fenn," he added. "He did a very good job. He stayed cool and calm, and he led me into the right position. Then I let Greipel go because Jurgen Roelandts went early, which forced Greipel to start slow and use energy to increase his speed. So I jumped on his wheel, waited until the last moment and tactically it was a nice sprint."

Thanks his team's dominance, Terpstra remains in the Gold Jersey, and Boonen powered his way into 2nd place overall, 17 seconds behind his teammate

.

"The next two days it will be hard again," Boonen said. "Probably less windy. But, we have to stay focused and pay attention to all the details. Niki and I are really well placed in the GC, so we will try to defend his position. Concerning me, I am really happy about this Tour of Qatar and it's nice to reward the team with a victory after a hard 'day at the office.'"

Guillaume Van Keirsbulck and and Stijn Vandenbergh are also 5th and 8th overall, with the former also leading the youth classification. Terpstra admits to being in a good position but refuses to take anything for granted yet.

"Today was a really stressful day," Terpstra said. "I had a flat tire during the race, so I struggled to come back. But, the team was so strong the guys kept me in the front the entire day. Then they had the power to help Tom for the sprint. It's super nice when you can count on guys like that. In the next two days it will be hard and stressful again. The title of my mission is 'stay awake'."

Starting at 12.45 CET you can follow tomorrow's stage on CyclingQuotes.com/live. You can read our preview here.