Muscat – After he came close to victory in Qurayyat and Al Hamra, Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) ended the longest stage of this year’s Tour of Oman with his arms aloft in triumph.

Stage 4, a 204.9km climb from Izki through Muscat to Yitti Hills, had an explosive finale in store for the peloton with a series of ascents in the last 10km. Pascal Ackermann, Ulissi’s teammate with UAE Team Emirates, went on the move on the up and down sections before he was caught with 2km to go when Ivan Cobo (Kern Pharma) launched a counter attack on the final ascent but was caught right at the summit with less than 1km remaining.

It was then time for the Italian Ulissi to show his power in the final sprint and take victory ahead of Axel Zingle (Cofidis) and Ide Schelling (BORA-Hansgrohe), while Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar Team) retained the leader’s red jersey.

After a week of racing, the final challenge awaits the riders on Wednesday: a mighty climb up Jabal Al Akhdhar, where the overall winner of the Tour of Oman will be crowned.

Norway’s Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X Pro Cycling) won ‘Most Active Rider’ on Tuesday, breaking Jeroen Meijers’ domination of the category. Matteo Jorgenson won ‘Best Young Rider’ for the day after maintaining his overall lead of the Tour of Oman, while Diego Ulissi claimed the ‘Individual Points’ award for his stage victory.

Dversnes said, “We have a good fight today, and I knew it would be a hard day to take the Red Jersey but with help from my teammates I was able to. It was a hard stage and a long stage, the longest of the Tour of Oman, but it was a stage I was looking forward to. My goal for this Tour was to go for a win, and I decided to go for it a bit earlier today. We will try to defend the jersey tomorrow and aim for the sprints.”