Tour of Oman: Magnus Cort wins stage 4

Magnus Cort (Astana) sprinted to victory on stage 4 of the Tour of Oman, beating Giovanni Visconti (Bahrain-Merida) and Alberto Bettiol (BMC) to the line at the Ministry of Tourism.

The stage included three laps over the stiff climb of Al Jabal Street, which meant that a reduced peloton contested the sprint finish.

Peter Stetina (Trek-Segafredo) led the race by 30 seconds on the approach to the final ascent of Al Jabal Street, having dropped his breakaway companion Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (Dimension Data), but the searing pace in the bunch behind meant that the American was brought to heel before the summit.

Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) was among the riders to accelerate on the final time up the climb, but Astana's pace-making meant that it was difficult for any rider to go clear. Gorka Izagirre led Astana's Alexey Lutsenko and Miguel Angel Lopez over the top, but the Basque was unable to get away.

On the run-in to the line, both Astana and the BMC team of race leader Greg Van Avermaet worked to ensure the 26-strong leading group came to the finish together.

Cort, who performed so well at the Dubai Tour last week, delivered a powerful sprint to claim the stage honours, while Visconti beat Bettiol to second.

Van Avermaet retains the red jersey after placing fourth ahead of Rui Costa (UAE-Team Emirates) and stage 2 winner Nathan Haas (Katusha-Alpecin).

How it unfolded

At just 117.5km in length, stage 4 of the Tour of Oman was always likely to be an aggressive affair, all the more so given that the punchy terrain offered escapees more than a swinger's chance of defying the sprinters on the run-in to the finish at the Ministry of Tourism.

There was a familiar look to the early break as Loïc Chetout (Cofidis), resplendent in the gold jersey of most aggressive rider, bounded clear on a rise shortly after the start, and the Frenchman was joined by five others in his endeavour as Jacques Janse Van Renseburg (Dimension Data), Rémi Cavagna (Quick-Step Floors), Casper Pedersen (Aqua Blue Sport), Pieter Weening (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij) and Jon Irisarri (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) bridged across.

By the 20km mark, their lead had hit 2:20, but Van Avermaet's BMC teammates would not let the advantage grow any further, mindful of the relative brevity of the stage. The effervescent Chetout nabbed the bonus sprint at Al Jissah and the king of the mountains points that followed, though Janse Van Renseburg led over the following ascent of Al Wadi Al Kabir, where the break's lead stood firm at 2:20.

With BMC and Bahrain-Merida leading the peloton, the escapees' lead began to diminish thereafter as they trundled towards the finishing circuit around the Ministry of Tourism, and it was down to within a minute as they entered the final 50 kilometres.

Chetout was dropped from the break as they began the first of three ascents of Al Jabal Street, a stiff proposition of 3.4km at an average gradient of 8.8%. Weening was first to the top on that occasion, but as the peloton drew ever closer, the unity of the leading group began to fragment.

On the second ascent of Al Jabal Street, Janse Van Rensburg decided to take matters in hand, and he rode clear of the fragmenting break. Peter Stetina (Trek-Segafredo), meanwhile, had attacked forcefully from the main peloton, and the American managed to pick his way through the remnants of the early move and make contact with Janse Van Rensburg near the summit.

This pairing established a lead of 40 seconds over the bunch before Stetina realised that he would have to go alone if he were to have any hope of defying the odds and staying clear. The American hit the base of Al Jabal Street for the final time with 15km to go and with a lead of 35 seconds over the bunch, but it was never likely to be enough given the intensity behind.

Vincenzo Nibali, perhaps with a mind to blowing away some cobwebs ahead of Saturday's summit finish on Green Mountain, launched a rasping acceleration that did for Stetina, but the Sicilian was unable to shake off the attentions of the Astana squad.

The high speed laid down by Astana did, however, severely reduce the size of the bunch, and there were only 26 riders still in contention as Gorka Izagirre led over the summit. On the rapid drop over the other side, BMC looked to help to manage affairs in the small front group, and a sprint finish was inevitable.

After going close against some very loft sprint opposition in Dubai last week, Cort would have backed himself here, and the Dane proved full value for his victory.

Van Avermaet did enough to defend his red jersey, and he begins stage 5 with a lead of 9 seconds over Lutsenko and 13 over Haas. With Green Mountain on the agenda, men like Izagirre (4th at 16 seconds) and Lopez (5th at 24 seconds) look well placed to challenge.

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