André Greipel won the Sparkassen Münsterland Giro today in his native Germany for the first time since he won the race in 2008. The Lotto-Belisol sprinter won in Munster after a race of 205 kilometers in the bunch sprint ahead of compatriot John Degenkolb of Giant-Shimano and Tom Van Asbroeck of Topsport Vlaanderen. 

In the early exchanges of the race, a five-man break was established with Dutchman Sam Oomen (Rabobank Development Team), Germans Jonas Koch (LKT Team Brandenburg), Georg Loef (Team Stuttgart), Emanuel Buchmann (Rad-Net Rose Team) and Grischa Janorschke (Team Vorarlberg). The group rode well but they knew that they were doomed and the peloton reeled them in at 60km to go.

This proved to be too early to pull the break in and as a consequence a dangerous group of eleven men ventured clear in a new attempt. Among others, the Dutch Tom Leezer (Belkin), Piotr Havik (Rabobank Development Team) and Reinier Honig (Team Vorarlberg) were involved. They were less willing to cooperate in comparison to the previous group and they were eventually captured and the bunc sprint seemed inevitable. 

In the closing stages, defending champion Jos van Emden tried to avoid a bunch sprint but his attempt was unsuccessful and he was back in the fold with just a few kilometres remaining. In the sprint for victory Greipel held off his compatriot Degenkolb in a photo finish with the Belgian Van Asbroeck, who Belkin confirmed today would sign for them, just behind. The difference was close, but the photo finish showed Greipel as the winner. Greipel, in his final race of the 2014 season, recorded his sixteenth win of 2014.That is the most of all the riders in the pro peloton.