André Greipel (Lotto Belisol) has continued his successful start to his 2014 campaign by winning the first stage of the Tour of Oman in a bunch sprint. However, it was no straightforward win for the German who got dropped in the crosswinds and had to chase back before he could unleash his impressive burst of speed to become the first leader of the race.

André Greipel appears to be unstoppable in the early part of the season. Having already won two stages in the Tour Down Under and a dominant victory in the Tour of Qatar, the German has continued his winning ways right from the beginning of the Tour of Oman when he emerged as the fastest in the bunch sprint that opened the 5th edition of the Arabian race.

Greipel again benefited from his fabulous lead-out train of Marcel Sieberg and Jurgen Roelandts who delivered him perfectly when it all came back together for the big bunch sprint in front of the Naseem Garden. He held off Leigh Howard (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Niccola Ruffoni (Bardiani) to become the first leader of the Omani race.

With 20km to go, however, nothing suggested that Greipel would win the stage. After his team had led the chase of a four-rider breakaway for the entire stage, the German missed out when strong crosswinds wreaked havoc on the peloton. Greipel suddenly found himself in a second group on the road with Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and Kanstantsin Siutsou (Sky) and his teammates had to get back to work to get him back in contention.

They managed to do so and with 11km to go, it was clear that all would be decided in the expected bunch sprint. Greipel had no trouble taking the win, adding to ever-growing tally of wins in impressive fashion.

Greipel will get another chance to win tomorrow when the race continues with a hort 139km stage from Al Bustan to Quriyat. The course is a bit more lumpy than today's but with no categorized climbs, only the wind seems to have the potential to prevent another bunch sprint in the Middle East.

A flat opening stage

The 5th edition of the Tour of Oman kicked off with a 164.5km stage from As Suwayq Castle to Naseem Garden on the outskirts of Muscat. The race consisted of a long gradual uphill in the first part and a similar downhill section back to the coast and had all the characteristics of a classic sprint stage, with only the desert win threatening to create some kind of selection.

With several strong sprinters in attendance, few had any doubt that the race would be a controlled affair. Hence, there was no big desire to be part of the early break and when Preben Van Hecke, Jelle Wallays (both Topsport Vlaanderen), Alessandro Bazzana (UnitedHealthCare), and Nicola Boem (Bardiani) attacked inside the first kilometre, they were given the green light to take off.

Lotto Belisol lead the chase

After 5km of riding, they were already 2.15 ahead as the peloton took the time to enjoy the beautiful sunny conditions that Oman offered for the start of the race. With André Greipel being eager to continue his success from Qatar, however, Lotto Belisol quickly took up the chasing responsibility, amassing on the front after 10km when the gap was 4.50.

The Belgian team worked hard to keep the gap stable between the 4- and 5-minute marks for most of the stage while up ahead, the escapees battled it out for the points on the climbs and the intermediate sprints that combine into one aggressiveness classification. After 56.5km of racing, Van Hecke was first at the top of the day's only categorized climb and the peloton crested the summit 4.05 later.

FDJ join the chase

Lotto Belisol started to bring down the gap and when Boem won the first intermediate sprint at the 78km mark, the escapees were only 3.15 ahead. 20km further down the road, Lotto Belisol even got some assistance from FDJ.fr who were eager to bring Nacer Bouhanni to the fore in a sprint finish.

With 50km to go, the two teams had brought the gap down to 2.05 and 10km, they got more reinforcement as Omega Pharma-Quick Step also started to chase. The Belgian team had an in-form Tom Boonen who was ready to show his speed in the expected sprint.

The wind wreaks havoc on the peloton

With 25km to go, the gap was down to just 1.18 but this is when the race to an unexpected turnaround. The peloton hit a crosswind section and suddenly it had blown to pieces, with riders spread all over the road in several different echelons.

Surprisingly, Greipel was one of the riders to miss out as the German found himself in a second group with Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and Kanstantsin Siutsou (Sky). The favourite now faced a hard battle to get back to the front and his hard-working teammates had to get back to the front after an already long day of chasing.

A regrouping takes place

The increased pace ended the day for the breakaway which was back in the first group 22km from the finish. As the peloton had now reached an easier section, the Greipel group managed to rejoin the first one and a little later the third group also made the junction. With 11km to go, all was back together and set for a big bunch sprint.

The pace was kept high during the final 10km as the sprinters now jostled for position near the front. With 2km to go, Belkin came to the fore, trying to set up the sprint for Barry Markus who had excelled in Qatar.

It was not to be for the Dutch team though as the famous Lotto Belisol team again hit the front when they passed the flamme rouge. From there, they delivered Greipel perfectly and the German made sure to take another win on a day that gave him an early scare.