André Greipel will continue his racing block in the Middle East when he lines up in the Tour of Oman which starts tomorrow. He leads a Lotto Belisol roster that will mostly be focused on stage wins but that will also keep an eye on the GC with new signing Tony Gallopin.

The main part of the Lotto Belisol selection that contested the Tour of Qatar has travelled on to Oman. From tomorrow until Sunday, the six-day race Tour of Oman will take place in the hilly sultanate.

Kris Boeckmans and Jonas Van Genechten returned home, while Tony Gallopin and Jurgen Van den Broeck left from Europe to complete the team. They join the successful sprint train of André Greipel, Jurgen Roelandts and Marcel Sieberg, and hard-working domestiques Pim Ligthart, Lars Bak, and Gert Dockx who all competed in Qatar.

André Greipel only managed to win a single stage in Qatar and the team's main focus in Oman will be to give their fast German the best conditions to go for a fourth season victory. The race is a rather hilly affair but the first two and the final stages appear to be suited to the sprinters and with Greipel having Roelandts and Sieberg for support, the odds are that more wins could be on the cards for the German who won two stages in Oman in 2012.

While Greipel will focus on the flat stages, new signing Tony Gallopin has set his sights on some of the hillier stages. The 3rd and 4th stages could suit a fast-finishing classics specialist like Gallopin perfectly while the Frenchman has performed well on the race's queen stage to the Green Mountain in past editions, having finished 14th in the race two years ago.

Jurgen Van Den Broeck continues his gradual transition back into racing after his crash in last year's Tour de France and will use the race to test his condition ahead of later objectives.

"André Greipel, who won a stage in the Tour of Qatar, also aims for a victory in the Tour of Oman" sports director Bart Leysen said. "Tony Gallopin wants to get a good GC here and he is also able to win a stage. We certainly have some candidates in the team for a stage win.  Taking one stage win is our first goal and then we take a look at the GC.

"The big difference compared to Qatar is the wind, so the race will be less nervous. Also the course is different. The stages aren't too hard, but there are some feisty climbs. We didn't have that in Qatar. In Oman the roads are smaller, while in Qatar one has to race a lot on highways with four lanes."

You can read our extensive preview of the race here.

Lotto Belisol for the Tour of Oman

Lars Bak, Gert Dockx, Tony Gallopin, André Greipel, Pim Ligthart, Jürgen Roelandts, Marcel Sieberg and Jurgen Van den Broeck