page_title: 2015 Tour of Oman
section_title: Stage 4
hierarchical_section_title: 2015 Tour of Oman / Stages / Stage 4
caption_attribution_description: Español: Rafael Valls ganando una etapa en el Tour San Luis
context_page_description: The 2015 Tour of Oman was the sixth edition of the Tour of Oman cycling stage race. It was rated as a 2.HC event on the UCI Asia Tour, and was held from 17 to 22 February 2015, in Oman. The race was organised by the municipality of Muscat, in collaboration with ASO and Paumer. Chris Froome, the defending champion from 2013 and 2014, was not present to defend his title.
  The decisive stage in this as in past editions was the climb of Jebel Akhdar. That stage was won by Rafael Valls of Lampre–Merida, who went on to defend his overall race lead to the finish in Muscat. This was aided by the controversial events of stage 5, which was eventually cancelled due to extreme weather conditions. Tejay van Garderen finished second and Alejandro Valverde finished third.
  The points competition was won by Andrea Guardini, who won the first stage of the race. Louis Meintjes was the best young rider, while Jef Van Meirhaeghe won the combativity prize after participating in the breakaway on every stage of the race. BMC Racing Team was the winner of the teams classification.
context_section_description: Stage 4 was the queen stage of the race, with a summit finish at the climb of Jabal al Akhdar (the Green Mountain). The stage was a 189 km (117 mi) route from the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque to Jabal al Akhdar. There were no significant climbs in the route until the final 5.7 km (4 mi), which had an average gradient of 10.5%.
  An early breakaway was formed of Jef Van Meirhaeghe (Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise) (the leader of the combativity award and in the breakaway for the fourth consecutive stage), his teammate Gijs Van Hoecke, Stijn Vandenbergh (Etixx–Quick-Step) and points classification leader Andrea Guardini (Astana). Guardini and Van Meirhaeghe contested the intermediate sprint after 18.5 km (11 mi), taking points for their respective classifications, then sat up and were caught by the peloton. Vandenbergh and Van Hoecke were allowed to build a lead of nearly 15 minutes, before the peloton increased its speed. The breakaway was caught with less than 10 km (10 mi) to go.
  BMC Racing Team led the peloton hard into the early slopes of Jabal al Akhdar. This caused many riders, including race leader Fabian Cancellara, to be dropped, and a group of 20 riders formed. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) put in two attacks, causing the group to be reduced further, in support of Jakob Fuglsang. More riders, including Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) were dropped, leaving a group of three riders in the lead with 1 km (0.6 mi) to go: Rafał Majka (Tinkoff–Saxo), Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) and Rafael Valls (Lampre–Merida). Majka unable to follow Van Garderen's attacks, but Valls was able to stay in his wheel. Valls was then able to put in his own attack and pass Van Garderen in the final part of the stage, going on to win by five seconds. It was his first victory in five years and gave him a 19-second lead in the overall standings. Van Garderen was frustrated after the stage, having also finished second on the same stage in the 2014 race behind Chris Froome. He said afterwards that he had "underestimated" Valls, who had not been considered among the favourites for stage victory.
  Louis Meintjes (MTN–Qhubeka) was eighth on the stage and moved into the white jersey as the best young rider.
caption: Rafael Valls, photographed in 2010, winner of stage 4 and the general classification
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