Avila Beach, United States--Slovakia's Peter Sagan snatched a narrow victory in the fourth stage of the Tour of California on Wednesday after near-misses for the Tinkoff-Saxo rider on the first three days.
"I never looked back," Sagan said after he burst out of a disorganized peloton and sprinted for the win ahead of Drapac's Wouter Wippert, with Etixx Quick-Step's Mark Cavendish third.
Hincapie Racing's Toms Skujins finished safely to maintain the overall lead he grabbed with his stage-three win on Tuesday -- 22 seconds ahead of Sagan in the general classification. Sagan earned 10 bonus seconds for Wednesday's win.
The 173.1-kilometer (107.6-mile) stage from Pismo Beach appeared headed for a straightforward sprint finish before BMC rider Daniel Oss launched a last gasp attack in the final kilometer.
He built a gap going into the final turns, but as the chasing bunch exited a last left-hand corner, Sagan stormed forward, powering past for the win.
The stage victory comes in the wake of comments by team owner Oleg Tinkov that Sagan, signed prior to this season, seemed to have "lost something."
The Slovakian declined to be drawn into discussing those remarks, preferring to focus on the day's performance.
AFP
