Greipel claims second stage of Ster ZLM Toer

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Andre Greipel was the next German sprinter to win at the Ster ZLM Toer, one day after compatriot Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) took the opening stage. The Lotto-Belisol rider won the mass sprint of the second stage, with rivals Mark Cavendish (Sky) and Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) finishing second and third. It was Greipel's 13th season win, the most of any rider so far this year.

The finale was marred by a crash occurring just prior to the three kilometre to go banner and as a result the field split with approximately 30 riders in advance of the crash contesting the sprint finish.

Cavendish took over the race lead, having finished third in the second stage and second in this one. Renshaw holds second overall and Greipel third. All three are tied on time, followed by Kittel in fourth at two seconds and Sven Vandousselaere (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) in fifth at eight seconds.

A four-rider break group dominated much of the day. Bart van Haaren and Jim van den Berg (both of Koga Cycling Team), Nathan Haas of Garmin-Barracuda and Nikolas Maes (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) had a lead of up to five minutes.

Maes dropped out of the group with a mechanical after 123km, and Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Gijs van Hoecke (Topsport-Vlaanderen) moved up from the peloton to the break group. But the peloton's chase was successful and they were all caught with only four kilometres to go.