Peter Sagan (Cannondale) sprinted to victory on stage four of the Tour of Oman, after escaping late in the stage alongside Rigoberto Uran (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana).
The trio went clear with little more than five kilometres remaining after the final climb of the day, and held off an elite chasing group – including Chris Froome (Team Sky), who himself had tried an attack moments earlier.
And with Sagan boasting the best sprint of the three escapees, the Tourminator stormed to his first victory of the season outside the Ministry of Housing.
With red jersey Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) dropped much earlier in the stage – the undulating terrain finally proving the beating of the in-form German sprint king – it puts the Slovakian ace into the overall lead with two stages remaining.
A fast start to the day had initially made it difficult for any break to stick, with serial escapee Lieuwe Westra (Astana) and team-mate Valerio Agnoli among those to try.
The Astana pair earned a small lead after nine kilometres, alongside Murilo Fischer (FDJ.fr), but it was soon swallowed up.
In fact it was 16 kilometres before Evan Huffman (Astana), Greg van Avermaet (BMC Racing), Yaroslav Popovych (Trek Factory Racing) and Jelle Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) finally made something stick.
They stretched their lead to more than eight minutes, with Wallays – in the break for the third time – allowed to take the points on offer at the intermediate sprints.
Several teams took shifts on the front of the bunch, including Sky and Tinkoff-Saxo, to keep the escapees in check however, with the average speeds well above 40km/h during the early part of the stage.
The circuit of Bousher Alamrat eventually saw the gap tumble however.
Each climb of Bousher Alamrat saw more time chopped off their advantage, but Wallays continued to rack up bonuses at the front undeterred.
At the back, both overall leader Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) and white jersey – and second placed overall – Leigh Howard (Orica-GreenEDGE) were dropped after the first ascent.
Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) and Andy Schleck (Trek Factory Racing) were then among the riders to succumb to the third climb of the day, by which point the escape group had been obliterated.
Van Avermaet crested the third climb first, with Mikel Nieve (Team Sky) briefly attempting to bridge across just behind, and what remained of the bunch a further 15 seconds back.
The BMC Racing man maintained his lead through to the final climb, but Froome took charge just before the top and broke clear with former team-mate Uran.
Their escape did not stick however, with a leading group of 40 riders bunching back together, but Uran pushed again with Sagan and Nibali for company to earn a slender lead.
With five kilometres remaining, the trio held a 15 second advantage over the chasing group – a bigger gap than Sagan, Froome and Cancellara had managed the previous day.
And as the kilometres ticked down, their lead fell accordingly – with Cancellara among those leading the chase – but they stayed just clear to set up Sagan for a hard-earned victory.
Tour of Oman 2014: stage four – result
1) Peter Sagan (SVK) – Cannondale – 4.02.20
2) Rigoberto Uran (COL) – Omega Pharma-Quickstep – ST
3) Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) – Astana +2″
4) Daryl Impey (RSA) – Orica-GreenEDGE – ST
5) Tony Gallopin (FRA) – Lotto-Belisol
6) Daniel Moreno (ESP) – Katusha
7) Francesco Gavazzi (ITA) – Astana
8) Zdenek Stybar (CZE) – Omega Pharma-Quickstep
9) Thomas Lofkvist (SWE) – IAM Cycling
10) Moreno Moser (ITA) – Cannondale
Others
11) Chris Froome (GBR) – Team Sky – ST
General classification
1) Peter Sagan (SVK) – Cannondale – 14.46.44
2) Rigoberto Uran (COL) – Omega Pharma-Quickstep +10″
3) Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) – Astana +14″
4) Tony Gallopin (FRA) – Lotto-Belisol +17″
5) Daryl Impey (RSA) – Orica-GreenEDGE +18″
6) Francesco Gavazzi (ITA) – Astana – ST
7) Roman Kreuziger (CZE) – Tinkoff-Saxo
8) Chris Froome (GBR) – Team Sky
9) Tejay van Garderen (USA) – BMC Racing
10) Robert Gesink (NED) – Belkin
