MUSCAT: Andre Greipel of Germany won a sprint finish to take the first stage of the Tour of Oman cycle race in Muscat on Tuesday.

Greipel, who became the first rider to don the leader’s red jersey, edged ahead of Australia’s Leigh Howard and Nicola Ruffoni of Italy crossing the finishing line at Nassen Garden.

Greipel, who rides for the Lotto team, has got his season off to a fine start with two stage wins in Australia, in the Tour Down Under, and another in last week’s Tour of Qatar.

“This proves I’ve lost none of my edge when it comes to speed, but it also shows the team is very strong, the guys all worked hard and no one but us deserved to win today,” he said.

Greipel did have a moment of doubt in the final run-in as as he found himself trailing a rapid breakaway, but the team came to his rescue.

“It was an awkward moment but Lars Bak put in the work to get me back to the front,” Greipel added.

For Tour de France winner Chris Froome, the race favorite, things do not really begin in earnest until Thursday with the first of the climbs.

In the meantime, the sprinters have another day in the limelight on Wednesday with a 139 kilometer ride on the flat from Al Bustan to Quriyat.

Froome said his success last year had made him more relaxed coming into the Tour of Oman, which he won last year.

“There’s less pressure because I’m not here to gain experience as a leader,” the 28-year-old Kenyan-born Briton said.

“It was critical last year but this year I feel more relaxed but I’m still motivated,” he added.

Froome said his winter training in South Africa meant he was “acclimatized already to the heat.”

Asked the inevitable questions about doping, Froome acknowledged it would “take a little more time” for people to regain confidence in the sport.

“I think it’s going to take a few consecutive Tour wins that aren’t ruined by doping cases,” he said.

Froome pulls out of Milan-San Remo

Meanwhile, British reigning Tour de France champion Chris Froome said he will not take part in next month’s Milan-San Remo classic after plans to change the route fell through.

“I thought I might try my luck because the organizers had decided to make the race more difficult by adding a climb in the final,” Froome told reporters on the eve of the Tour of Oman, where he is also the defending champion.

“But ultimately, the traditional, less difficult course will be used. It no longer makes sense to start in Milan.”

Organizers had planned to increase the difficulty of the course by adding a new climb, the Pompieana, between the Cipressa and Poggio ascents but heavy rain and landslides prompted local authorities to rule the passage unsafe.

The decision means that Froome, 28, won’t take part in a single one-day race this season prior to the Tour de France.

Aside from the Tour of Oman, which starts Tuesday, the Team Sky leader will also ride in the Tirreno-Adriatico, Tour of Catalonia, Tour of Romandie and Dauphine Libere.

However, unlike last year, Froome won’t race in the Criterium International, nor the Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic.

“The Doyenne (of classic races) is a course I like a lot and somewhere I’d like to return. But it won’t be this year,” said Froome.

The Kenyan-born cyclist also ruled out competing in the Paris-Roubaix or another cobbled Classic in preparation for the fifth stage of this year’s Tour de France that will see the peloton tackle nine cobblestone sections before arriving in Arenberg on the same roads used in the Paris-Roubaix event.

“From what I can understand, the cobbles are very different in a one-day race than in a Grand Tour. I’d personally prefer not to take the risk in a race on the cobbles. I’d like to go and train on cobbles a lot to prep for that cobbled-stage in the Tour,” he explained.

Regarding July’s Tour, Froome singled out Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali and Spain’s two-time winner Alberto Contador as his two “most serious rivals without doubt.”

“Alberto doesn’t let anything go. He’s a fighter. I’m sure he will approach the next Tour perfectly prepared and with a very big feeling of revenge,” said Froome.