After being beaten by a tire width the day before, André Greipel did a lot better on the fifth stage and left no doubt as to who would win the stage.
Greipel made no secret of his frustration at the narrow loss to Tom Boonen 24 hours earlier. He put all his frustration into this sprint. The result was impressive. With a lead of five bike lengths, he outclassed Aidis Kruopis (Orica-GreenEdge) and Theo Bos (Belkin) in second and third place.
Niki Terpstra remains at the top of the overall standings with a 17-second lead over Boonen and won't let the victory in the desert be snatched away from him again. Greipel is tenth and the best-placed German is his friend and teammate Marcel Sieberg.
Result
1. André Greipel (Lotto Belisol) 3:48:58
2. Aidis Gruopis (Orica Greenedge)
3. Theo Bos (Belkin)
4. Daniele Bennati (Tinkoff Saxo)
5. Matteo Pelucchi (IAM Cycling) all same time
Overall rating
1. Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) 13:08:31
2. Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) 0:00:17
3. Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto Belisol) 0:00:20
4. Ian Stannard (Sky) 0:00:37
5. Guillaume van Keirsbulck (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) 0:00:47
6. Marcel Sieberg (Lotto Belisol) 0:00:56