diff --git a/EventListener/RouteAnnotationEventListener.php b/EventListener/RouteAnnotationEventListener.php
index f8136ca2..5e5f2d02 100644
--- a/EventListener/RouteAnnotationEventListener.php
+++ b/EventListener/RouteAnnotationEventListener.php
@@ -131,8 +131,23 @@ public function getOptions($name, Route $route)
             }
         }
 
-        if (!filter_var($option, FILTER_VALIDATE_BOOLEAN) && !is_array($option)) {
-            throw new \InvalidArgumentException('the sitemap option must be "true" or an array of parameters');
+        if (!is_array($option) && !is_bool($option)) {
+            $bool = filter_var($option, FILTER_VALIDATE_BOOLEAN, FILTER_NULL_ON_FAILURE);
+
+            if (null === $bool) {
+                throw new \InvalidArgumentException(
+                    sprintf(
+                        'The sitemap option must be of type "boolean" or "array", got "%s"',
+                        $option
+                    )
+                );
+            }
+
+            $option = $bool;
+        }
+
+        if (!$option) {
+            return null;
         }
 
         $options = $this->defaults;
diff --git a/Tests/EventListener/RouteAnnotationEventListenerTest.php b/Tests/EventListener/RouteAnnotationEventListenerTest.php
index 40168ead..fb21db7e 100644
--- a/Tests/EventListener/RouteAnnotationEventListenerTest.php
+++ b/Tests/EventListener/RouteAnnotationEventListenerTest.php
@@ -30,21 +30,20 @@ public function testNoAnnotation()
     }
 
     /**
-     * test "sitemap"=false annotation
+     * test "sitemap"="anything" annotation
      */
-    public function testInvalidSitemapFalse()
+    public function testInvalidSitemapArbitrary()
     {
         $this->setExpectedException('InvalidArgumentException');
-        $this->assertEquals(-1, $this->getListener()->getOptions('route1', $this->getRoute(false)), 'sitemap = false throws an exception');
+        $this->assertEquals(-1, $this->getListener()->getOptions('route1', $this->getRoute('anything')), 'sitemap = "anything" throws an exception');
     }
 
     /**
-     * test "sitemap"="anything" annotation
+     * test "sitemap"=false annotation
      */
-    public function testInvalidSitemapArbitrary()
+    public function testSitemapFalse()
     {
-        $this->setExpectedException('InvalidArgumentException');
-        $this->assertEquals(-1, $this->getListener()->getOptions('route1', $this->getRoute('anything')), 'sitemap = "anything" throws an exception');
+        $this->assertNull($this->getListener()->getOptions('route1', $this->getRoute(false)), 'sitemap = false returns null');
     }
 
     /**