Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) made up for the bad luck he suffered in yesterday's second stage of the Tour of Oman when he took an impressive win on the hilly third day of the Middle Eastern race. The German sprinter survived two steep climbs inside the final 25km, used his team to reel in a dangerous break consisting of Chris Froome (Sky), Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Peter Sagan (Cannondale), and Fabian Cancellara (Trek), and finally launched his powerful sprint to take his second win of the race and reclaim the overall lead.

Yesterday André Greipel was left frustrated when a dropped chain took away the powerful German's chance of sprinting for his second win and defending his leader's jersey in the second stage of the Tour of Oman. Today he took his revenge when he won the third stage of the race to reclaim the red jersey he had lost 24 hours earlier.

Greipel has often proved that he is solid climber, most recently in the Tour Down Under where he impressed on the very hilly opening stage, and today it was again a combination of his climbing and sprinting legs that allowed him to shine. In the tricky finale that contained two short, very steep ascents, he dug deep to stay with the main peloton while several other fast finishers were left behind.

However, it all seemed to have been in vain when defending champion Chris Froome launched an attack with 5km to go. The Tour winner was joined by last year's winner of the stage Peter Sagan, Fabian Cancellara, and Zdenek Stybar to form an extremely powerful group that threatened to derail Greipel's plans.

Greipel managed to organize his troops and with 1km to go, the all-star quartet had been caught. All was set for a sprint win and there was never any doubt about who was the fastest rider in the group. Greipel put daylight between himself and his nearest rivals, with Sagan still having enough energy to take 2nd while Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) also survived the climbs to take 3rd.

With the win, Greipel scored 10 bonus seconds that can be added to the 10 he already took by winning stage 1. This means that the German is now back in the overall lead at the halfway point of the 6-stage race.

However, there will be no defence of his jersey in tomorrow's fourth stage which is the first real day for the climbers in this year's race. After a flat start to the 173km stage, the riders will tackle a difficult finishing circuit, meaning that they will cover 4 hard climbs inside the final 60km of the race. Last year Froome won a similar stage, proving that it is now time for the GC riders to come to the fore.

You can read our preview of the race here.

A difficult stage

The third stage of the Tour of Oman was tricky affair. The first part of the 145km from Bank Muscat to Al Bustan were mostly flat but it was only a warm-up for the difficult finale. With 24km to go, the riders climbed the Al Hamriya ascent (0.8km, 9.8%) while the Al Jissah climb (1.4km, 9%) followed just 6.5km from the finish. A fast descent to the finish but a small hill 1km from the finish had produced some drama when the stage was last contested one year ago when Peter Sagan took the win.

The race was off to a rather calm start under beautiful weather conditions and it didn't take long time for the day's early break to be established. After 4km, Kevyn Ista (IAM) - probably eager to honour his teammate Kristof Goddaert who died two days ago - Nicola Boem (Bardiani), Martijn Maaskant (UnitedHealthCare) and Jelle Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen), meaning that Bardiani, UnitedHealthCare and Topsport were on the attack for the third consecutive day. Boem and Wallays had both been in the break on stage 1 and were keen to score some points for the most aggressive rider competition.

The chase is launched

The peloton was happy to see the break go up the road and after 10km, the quartet was already 2.20 ahead. However, the main group had no desire to give the escapees any hope of success and after 13km, the Orica-GreenEDGE team of race leader Leigh Howard and the Cannondale team of stage favourite Sagan  had brought the gap down to 2 minutes.

It was way too early to catch the break and so the peloton stepped off the gas a bit, allowing the break to reopen their advantage to 3.15. Orica-GreenEDGE and Cannondale stabilized the gap at around the 3-minute mark for some time.

BMC join the chase

After 53km of racing, BMC decided to show that they had big ambitions for the stage with Philippe Gilbert and Greg Van Avermaet. The American team joined the two leading teams in their chase effort, bringing the gap down to 2.35.

Boem beat Ista and Wallays at the intermediate sprint after 74km of racing and at that time, the escapees could only enjoy a 2-minute advantage. The peloton was still not keen to catch them and again stabilized the gap just around the 2-minute mark.

The break splits up

The peloton was now approaching the Al Hamriya climb, meaning that the race about to kick off in earnest. This prompted several teams to up the pace as the key riders all jostled for position near the front of the peloton.

On the climb, the first riders start to drop off from the peloton due to the frantic pace while up ahead, Boem and Wallays left their companions behind. Wallays made a late surge to crest the summit on his own but on the descent he was rejoined by Boem and Ista, with Maaskant now having fallen back to the peloton.

Boem scores more points

At the top of the climb, the gap was still 1.05 but as the peloton was now riding full gas, the advantage was melting away. Boem managed to win the  2nd intermediate sprint 10.5km from the finish but at that time, the gap was down to just 22 seconds.

Moments later, it was all over for the three escapees as the peloton was now speeding towards the bottom of the Al Jissah climb. On the ascent, Sky set a fierce pace that made it impossible for anyone to attack, with Dario Cataldo leading his captain Froome and Sagan over the top.

Froome attacks

As the peloton sped down the descent, Froome launched a surprise attack and was quickly joined by Sagan, Cancellara, and Stybar to form a very strong four-rider group. With 2km to go, the group was still ahead but as they passed the flamme rouge, several teams had combined forces to close it down.

In the end, it all came down to a sprint from a select group and with Greipel's presence easy to notice, the outcome was never in doubt.