During the last year, André Greipel has been wearing the German champion's jersey and today he waved goodbye to it by winning the final stage of the Ster ZLM Toer. Stating his intention to try to defend his title, Greipel was also pleased to see that his train is working well ahead of the Tour de France.

This afternoon André Greipel was the fastest in the last stage of the Ster ZLM Toer. After the victory of Greg Henderson on Friday Lotto Belisol took a second stage win in this five-day stage race. Philippe Gilbert became the overall winner, with an advantage of twelve seconds on number two Tim Wellens.

The story of the stage is short. Iljo Keisse and Brian van Goethem set up a break soon after the start in Gerwen. The duo stayed in front until ten kilometers from the finish in Boxtel. The bunch sprint got marred because of a crash with two kilometers to go, which caused several splits in the peloton. Twenty-five riders rode towards the finish line together. German champion André Greipel conquered the stage, his eleventh victory of the season. Tyler Farrar got second, Robert Wagner third.

"Sean De Bie and Lars Bak controlled the breakaway, it was up to us and Giant-Shimano," Greipel said. "The whole team did a great job. This was maybe my last race in the German champion jersey, so I'm really happy I took the win. It's such a nice jersey, I'm feeling a bit sad this could have been the last time I've worn it in a race. Next Sunday Marcel Sieberg and I will do everything we can to keep the jersey in our team.

"The Ster ZLM Toer was good to fine-tune for the Tour de France. Jürgen Roelandts wasn't here, but Jens Debusschere did really nice work. In the stage on Friday Greg Henderson turned first around a corner with 700 meters to go. He looked back to me and I gave him the sign to go full gas. I was really happy for him he could hold off the peloton."