Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) confirmed he is the best sprinter of the 2015 season, using his superior sprinting speed and finishing skills to win the UCI WorldTour Vattenfall Cyclassics one-day race in Hamburg.

The German, who is affectionately known as ‘the Gorilla’ for his sprinting strength and muscular build, ensured he was perfectly placed in the hectic, high-speed finale of the race. He then came off the wheel of sprint rival Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and surged to the finish line, raising his arms in celebration. Kristoff held on to take second and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing) was third.

The Vattenfall Cyclassics is traditionally a chance for the sprinters to show their speed and they again dominated this 20th edition of the professional race which crowns a weekend of cycling in and around the German city. Several riders tried to split the race with long-range and late attacks on the third and final assault of the Waseberg climb. However the sprinters’ teams controlled every move until the final sprint to the line in the centre of Hamburg.

Belgium’s Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep) was fourth and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) was fifth, confirming the quality of Greipel’s victory. The only sprinters missing from the showdown were Britain’s Mark Cavendish (Etixx-QuickStep), who crashed in the final kilometres, and Marcel Kittel (Giant-Alpecin) who was distanced as several attacks were launched on the final time over the Waseberg.

Greipel has won 15 races so far this season, including four stages at the Tour de France and now the biggest one-day Classic at home in Germany. He has been a professional since 2005 but had never won the Vattenfall Cyclassics.

“It feels really good to win, I’ve wanted to win here for so long,” he said after lifting the special 20th anniversary Vattenfall Cyclassics winner’s trophy to UCI.ch. "My teammates helped and protected me from the first to the last kilometre of the race. It all turned out well even if I only had four teammates after the crash.”

Greipel confirmed that he would ride the Tour of Britain in early September as important build-up to this year’s UCI world road race championships in Richmond in the USA, the final goal of his 2015 season.

He score 80 UCI WorldTour points for winning the Vattenfall Cyclassics and so moved up to 18th place in the individual UCI WorldTour ranking with 210 points. Other sprinters also climbed the rankings, with Kristoff jumping to fifth place with 323 points. Van Avermaet remains in seventh place with 322 points.

Spain’s Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) continues to lead the individual ranking after his consistently successful season. He has a total of 532 points and will no doubt score further points in the Vuelta a Espana –the final three-week Grand Tour of the season, that began on August 22. Chris Froome (Team Sky), who is also riding the Vuelta a Espana, is second in the individual UCI WorldTour ranking with 422 points. Spain’s Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo), who won the Giro d’Italia in May, is third with 407 points.

The UCI WorldTour team and nation rankings remain largely unchanged after the Vattenfall Cyclassics. Team Sky holds the top spot with 1246 points, ahead of Movistar (1242) and Katusha (1190). Spain dominates the nation ranking with 1582 points, ahead of Great Britain (973) and Colombia 814).

The UCI WorldTour calendar continues on two fronts, with riders in action at the three-week Vuelta a Espana and another peloton riding the GP Ouest France – Plouay on August 30.