Vincenzo Nibali leads Tour of Oman after winning stage four
By Matt Westby
Last Updated: 19/02/16 4:53pm
Vincenzo Nibali took the overall lead of the Tour of Oman by climbing to a solo victory on stage four's summit finish on Green Mountain.
Nibali (Astana) moved into a lone lead inside the last 1km of the 7km ascent and hung on to win by nine seconds from runner-up Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and by 12 seconds from third-placed Jakob Fuglsang (Astana).
Previous leader Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) was dropped earlier in the climb and could only finish 1min 10sec down in 10th place.
It means Nibali moves to the top of the general classification and opens up leads of 15 seconds over second-placed Bardet and 24 seconds over third-placed Fuglsang.
The six-day race continues on Saturday with a hilly, 199.5km fifth stage ending at the Ministry of Tourism, just outside Muscat.
Stage four result
1 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana, 4:25:48
2 Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale, +9sec
3 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana, +12
4 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, +18
5 Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida, +38
General classification
1 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana, 16:18:35
2 Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale, +15sec
3 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana, +24
4 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, +40
5 Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida, +54
