André Greipel truly dominated the sprints in the Tour of Oman after he won today's final stage, making it three out of six in the Middle Eastern race. With the stage having a lumpy start, his rivals tried to get rid of him before the start but the German again showed his great climbing skills to survive the aggression.

 

André Greipel has been virtually unbeatable in the Tour of Oman sprints and it required a dropped chain for the German on stage two for his rival sprinters to get a chance against the Lotto Belisol sprinter. Today he made it three out of six by winning the final stage.

 

The race was extremely fast and aggressive from the gun as the first part of the stage contained several very hard climbs. Several escapes were formed and reeled back as the rival teams all tried to put the fastest rider in the peloton under pressure.

 

As he had done it on stage 3, Greipel again used his great climbing legs to limit his losses and his rivals failed to get rid of the big German. In the end, the stage ended as a traditional sprint stage, with a 3-rider break being swallowed up just 2.5km from the finish.

 

Greipel praised the team support that had allowed him to maintain contact with the peloton.

 

"The other teams tried to get rid of me during the stage but my teammates stayed with me on the climb," he said. I was lucky that I had good legs today and so wasn't that far back on the climb, just maybe ten seconds. I got back on during the descent. The other teams tried but I had the best team to support me."

 

In the end Greipel again received the perfect lead-out from Marcel Sieberg and Jurgen Roelandts.

 

"It was windy just like two years ago, with a strong tailwind," he said, referring to his win in the same finish in 2012. "It was a really fast sprint because it's also downhill, so I decided to go early because you can't go faster than your fastest."

 

Sports director Bart Leysen praised the team effort.

 

"Today we aimed for another bunch sprint," he said. "The beginning of the stage was very tough. The plan was to have one of our riders in a breakaway, so we shouldn't have to lead the chase. First Jurgen Van den Broeck jumped away with Kreuziger and Nibali. They stayed in front for about five kilometres. Then Pim Ligthart attacked and later it was up to Gert Dockx. But the escapees didn't get any space. Katusha wanted to let it all explode on the last climb and closed the gap.

 

"Halfway a front group of three was formed which stayed ahead until the final. We kept them under control with Lars Bak and Gert Dockx. Marcel Sieberg and Jürgen Roelandts dropped off André Greipel perfectly again and he sprinted towards the victory."

 

Leysen was extremely pleased with the outcome of the Middle Eastern races in Qatar and Oman. The team won a stage with Greipel in Qatar where Roelandts was 2nd overall. The only slight disappointment may be the team's GC campaign in Oman, with Jurgen van den Broeck finishing 16th and Tony Gallopin more than 6 minutes back in 45th.

 

"These two weeks in Qatar and Oman have been successful," he said. "We won four out of twelve stages. With Jürgen Roelandts and André Greipel we came close to an extra win in Qatar. It proves the whole team is good. The guys can go home in perfect condition for the Belgian opening weekend. We can't wish for anything more. Also Tony Gallopin and Jurgen van den Broeck have done an excellent job for the team. They are still building up and their goals are yet to come."