Intro:

Spain's Rafael Valls took his first professional win in five years and captured the leader's Red Jersey on Stage Four of the Tour of Oman in Muscat on Friday.

Script:

Stage Four of the Tour of Oman started with the spectacular backdrop of Sultan Qaboos Grande Mosque. A glorious day Muscat but difficult conditions for the riders with a strong headwind and high temperatures.

Four riders braved an early attack, and when Andrea Guardini won the first intermediate spint, the group were five minutes ahead of the rest.

Alejandro Vandenberghe and Gijs Van Hoecke pushed on further and led by almost 15 minutes after 73 kilometres.

They were caught at the start of the brutal final six kilometre climb up Jabal Al Akhdhar.

Tour de France winner Vincenzo Nibali attacked twice but then began to struggle and with one kilometre to go just three riders were left at the front - American Tejay van Garderen, Rafal Majka of Poland and Spain's Rafael Valls.

And it was the Spaniard who crossed first, his first stage win since 2010. He now holds the red jersey with a nine second advantage over van Garderen, there are two stages left to go.