André Greipel (Lotto Belisol) got his revenge for yesterday's defeat when he took a hugely convincing win in today's penultimate stage of the Tour of Qatar. The German champion was again given a perfect lead-out and this time no one came even close to matching his impressive speed while Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) rolled across the line in 9th to defend his overall lead.

Yesterday André Greipel had the rare experience of getting beaten in a sprint by Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) but today he reestablished the sprint hierarchy by putting in a dominant showing in the sprint that ended the penultimate stage of the Tour of Qatar. Having been led out by his trusted teammates Marcel Sieberg and Jurgen Roelandts, he powered down the finishing straight to put daylight into his rival sprinters.

For the first time in this year's race, there was no big drama on the stage as the wind failed to play any role and instead the stage developed into a traditional scenario for the sprinters. The fast finishers had an easy ride for most of the day while the peloton chased down an early break.

This played into the hands of Greipel who could save himself for one final impressive burst. Inside the final kilometre, his team took their usual control and everything was in place for another Greipel win.

Having gone too early yesterday, he allowed Aidis Kruopis (Orica-GreenEDGE) to take Roelandts' wheel but when he opened his sprint, he had no trouble passing the fast Lithuanian. The Orica-GreenEDGE sprinter was the only one that could keep up with Greipel just the tiniest bit and he held onto take 2nd behind the superior stage winner. Theo Bos (Belkin) showed the first signs of life by taking 3rd.

Niki Terpstra stayed safe in the hectic finale and rolled across the line in 9th. As none of the GC contenders scored bonus seconds, he keeps his 17-second lead over teammate Tom Boonen.

The final stage ends with 10 flat laps on a 5.7km circuit in central Doha and a big bunch sprint is expected. Hence, only disaster will be able to take away what should be a big stage race win for Terpstra.

A flat stage

The 159km penultimate stage took the riders from Al Zubara Fort to the northern tip of the peninsula in Madinat al Shamal. The stage finished with one lap of a big 36.5km circuit and two laps of a smaller 13.4km one. As usual, it was completely flat, with the wind being the only danger.

After yesterday's furiously fast stage, the wind was not strong enough to cause any splits and so the stage was off to a relatively calm start. Stijn Devolder (Trek), Vladimir Isaychev (Katusha), Daniel Schorn (NetApp-Endura), and Patrick Gretsch (Ag2r) attacked early on and the peloton were content to let them go.

Lotto lead the chase

While Schorn beat Isaychev and Gretsch at the first intermediate sprint - which they chose not to contest - the escapees started to build up a solid gap that reached more than 7 minutes. Behind, Lotto Belisol took control, with the Belgian team being keen to set up Greipel for the win.

The riders faced a long headwind stretch that killed any initiative and they only covered 31.5km in the second hour. When they reached the finish for the first time, however, things started to become serious as there was a change of direction for the big finishing circuit.

A nervous peloton

Omega Pharma-Quick Step hit the front and by the time Gretsch led Isaychev and Devolder across the line at the second intermediate sprint, the gap had come down to 1.25. As they started the lap, Sky hit the front and the peloton now started to split up.

A group with Elia Viviani (Cannondale), Gert Steegmans (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Michael Hepburn (Orica-GreenEDGE) fell off the pace but when the peloton again turned into a cross-headwind, the nervousness disappeared and the pace slowed down. This allowed the second group to rejoin the main one as Lotto Belisol, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, FDJ and BMC had now lined up their trains on the front.

The gap grows

However, they were in no hurry and by the time the escapees started the first of their two laps on the small 13.4km circuit, the gap was back up to 2.50. Again the riders now faced a cross-tailwind section and this prompted Omega Pharma-Quick Step to again hit the front, with Iljo Keisse and Stijn Vandenbergh stringing out the group.

Several teams stayed attentive near the front but the wind didn't split things up. When the group again slowed down, a Bardiani rider attacked and he stayed ahead for a little while before again being swallowed up.

Lotto Belisol up the pace

With 17km to go, Lotto Belisol decided that it was time to bring back the break and so they positioned their entire team on the front. Lars Bak took some huge turns and when they started the final lap, the gap was down to less than a minute.

Again Omega Pharma-Quick Step moved to the front before the change of direction and they combined forces with Belkin and Lotto Belisol to string things out. When the danger had disappeared, Belkin, Orica-GreenEDGE and Omega Pharma-Quick Step organized a more traditional chase.

Orica-GreenEDGE working hard

Jens Mouris did some solid work for Orica-GreenEDGE  but with 8km to go, it was again Lotto on the front. The Belgian team closed the final small gap to the escapees before Tinkoff-Saxo took over.

NetApp-Endura and Cannondale both had stints on the front but with 3km to go Orica-GreenEDGE had Jens Mouris and Matthew Hayman stringing things out. They battled for position with NetApp-Endura but when they passed the flamme rouge, Lotto Belisol kicked into action.

Marcel Sieberg hit the front before leaving it to Roelandts to do the final pace-setting for Greipel. When the German finally opened his sprint, his superiority was evident and he could easily take the third win of his season and his first ever in Qatar.