Winning the red jersey on Monday's Green Mountain, a key stage in the Tour of Oman, was unexpected for Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert.

A day after Fausto Masnada had soloed to a lead of more than a minute in Muscat and seemed to have the overall win almost in his grasp, Intermarche-Wanti-Gobert and its Czech leader turned the race upside down again in the Al Hajar mountains.

Hilt raced to his first victory since 2016 by 39 seconds on a steep slope averaging 10.5% at 5.7km, in the process beating Masnada by 1:48 after the Italian broke 2km from the line.

After the stage, Hilt said the red jersey was a "bonus" because the team was only going to contend for the stage win.

"From what I had seen on other stages and climbs, I believed in myself that I could win the stage today," he told the assembled journalists, including Cycling News, as he passed the finish line.

"I knew for sure that I was one of the best in this race. I was feeling really good and I believed I could at least win a stage today.

"I didn't think I could take the jersey with Masnada dropping over a minute. Getting the jersey is a big, big bonus, but our main goal was to win the stage today. I'm happy we did that."

Hilt, who added that he has nothing but good memories of the climb, having helped Alexey Lutsenko win in Astana in 2019, thanked them for the work they did throughout a trickier than expected day on the bike.

Most of the 150.5km stage took place on flat and undulating roads, but with 70km to go the wind picked up and a breakaway was set shortly after the peloton split, with former race leader Anton Charmig (UnoX) also involved.

Intermarche Wanty-Gobert led for most of the day and the leader stayed out of trouble.

"I was in front [at the echelon] because I was in front with the team all day. It was a perfect day, no trouble," Hilt explained.

"I really appreciate the team today. It was a great job. Kevin [van Mersen] was pulling all day. It was hard and really dangerous with the crosswind. The whole team was great. Not just the line (Talamae), but the whole team. They were already pulling at a hard pace on the downhill of the climb.

Taaramae, who entered the race as co-leader with Hilt, was in ninth place overall, 1:28 behind Masnada and 30 seconds behind his teammate. The Estonian, who worked the steep slopes of Green Mountain for Hilt, finished the day in sixth place and now sits in eighth place overall.

"On paper, we were probably the strongest team. Me with my experience and Jan with his climbing talent."

"In fact, he was about 90% sure we could win the stage, but he didn't know how good Masnada was. Yesterday was hot and hard. We are not a machine."

Speaking to Cycling News about his off-season training in Rwanda earlier in the race, Taaramae said he kept pushing to maintain his high rankings after the work was done, earning valuable UCI ranking points.

The team has already won two races this season, with Alexander Kristoff winning at Clasica Almeira and Biniam Grimey at Trofeo Alcudia in Mallorca.

"I paced myself for the last two kilometers. And yes, I came in last. Today is cycling, so I have to fight for points. So not only do I have to work, I have to be in the top 10, points, points, points," explained Taramae.

"It is possible that Masnada is suffering from yesterday," he concluded, referring to the Italian's multiple attacks and 15km solo ride on stage 4.

"There was a really hard stage in the Arctic Circle race some years ago, and Ben Hellmans took the jersey.