Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) showed for the second consecutive day that he is much more than just a pure sprinter as he survived some hard climbing to win the 5th stage of the Tour of Turkey. In the diminished peloton he was without assistance from his lead-out riders but the German insists that he is able to sprint on his pure instinct.

Andre Greipel is known as one of the fastest riders in the world but unlike some of his fellow sprinters, the big German handles smaller climbs rather well. Yesterday he showed his abilities by surviving a hard final climb before outsprinting a 30-rider group at the end.

Today he repeated the performance as he stayed in the first peloton when the bunch split in two on a very hard climb in the opening part of the race. Assisted by Gert Dockx and Adam Hansen in the front move, his team took part in the chase of a dangerous 8-rider group and finally the German showed his superior sprint by finishing several bike lengths ahead of nearest challenger Matteo Trentin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step).

Afterwards, the German explained that the stage had been harder than yesterday's-

"I would say yes (it was harder, ed.) because it split up at the front directly," he said. "We found ourselves about 50 riders on the long climb. Everybody had the pressure on. It was a really hard climb but I managed to stay with them. In the end, everybody was attacking, nobody was riding anymore. We were chasing the break down with the other teams. We did our job. I'm happy I could finish the work."

Greipel has lost two of his important domestiques due to crashes in the race. Both Olivier Kaisen and Jonas Vangenecten were involved in some of the tumbles that have plagued the Turkish race and this has left his Lotto-Belisol team with reduced resources.

With his recent success Greipel seems to be able to handle the situation but he insists that it is somewhat of a handicap.

"It's not easy to lose two riders," he said. "They were important to me.  Oli (Kaisen, ed.) is a big engine to chase the breaks, and Jonas was there for me in the sprints. It's not easy without them."

The Lotto-Belisol train of Marcel Sieberg, Jürgen Roelandts and Greg Henderson is famous as maybe the world's best but in the Tour of Turkey Greipel is not surrounded by his loyal domestiques. The last two days the reduced pelotons have meant that he has been forced to find his own way through the hectic final kilometers but the German says that he has always been able to take care of himself in a final sprint.

"I always won sprints on my own," he said. "But for me it's easier to count on the best lead-out train in the world, with guys like Adam Hansen, Jurgen Roelandts, riders who will help me in the Tour de France. I know I can trust them and it can make it easier when they're here. But when they're not, I have the instinct to do my own sprint."

Greipel arrived in Turkey to participate in his first race since the Paris-Roubaix and he has had immediate success. The "Gorilla" admits that he has been surprised to be going so strong after a short break from competition.

" I feel that I'm a bit fresher," he said. "I' m surprised at my current level."

Greipel will probably not make it three in a row as tomorrow's sixth stage finishes at the top of a hard climb. Starting at 13.15 you can follow the big GC battle on CyclingQuotes.com/live.