After crosswinds battered the peloton during the first two road stages of the Tour of Qatar and a tailwind made for phenomenal speeds on the desert roads on stage four, stage five proved to be a much less complicated affair.

And Andre Greipel resumed normal service to win the sprint finish, making amends for his photo finish defeat to Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) on stage four as the Lotto-Belisol sprint train clicked perfectly into gear once again.

With one stage left it has earned the German tenth place overall, but Dutchman Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) appears to now have the race wrapped up after finishing safely in the bunch.

But there was still to plenty to get the fans talking from stage five – ourselves included – so read on for our five observations. Add your own in the RCUK Forum.