At the Tour of Oman, Mark Cavendish has already won the second stage with a sprint victory, but Quick-Step Alfa Vinyl won the fourth stage on Sunday with an impressive one-two victory by Muscat's Fausto Masnada and Mauro Schmidt The team won the stage 4 on Sunday.

Masnada attacked down the final climb and rode solo to the finish outside the massive marble halls of the Muscat Royal Opera to win by 1:07. With two days of racing remaining, he took the GC lead by 55 seconds.

The Italian's sixth victory came after a short and chaotic day of racing in the hills south of Muscat.

Schmidt told Cycling News in the morning that he had "a good chance to win a stage and get a GC time," but the young Swiss underestimated the time difference in Masnada.

"I'm thankful for my teammate Mauro," Masnada said after the stage. 'He was in front the whole time and did a perfect job to help me in the final.' I was with seven or eight riders on the last climb, and then I attacked on the descent.

"So I only tried to attack once, and that was my third attack.

After Schmidt moved ahead, he hung ahead of the peloton and joined a small group that included Søren Klag Andersen (Team DSM). The purpose of the move was to hold the lead until the middle of the three final climbs to and from Al Jabal Street, which overlooks southern Muscat.

"Basically, we waited until some of them joined us. So I just tried to keep going. For me, my goal was to at least make it through the second climb in front of them."

"The goal was to really make it hard on the second climb because the peloton would be forced to chase hard to get rid of some guys. Basically, it was to get Fausto in a good position. That way I could hold on, and since they weren't riding together at the back, I could stay in front until the third summit."

Masnada thanked his teammates after the stage and noted that there was much more to come from the 22-year-old Giro d'Italia stage winner, who sprinted from the chase group to second place.

"He's really strong. It was his first race with the Wolfpack and everyone saw how powerful he is. I'm sure he'll do great in the next race with this team."

"I think he'll do great in the next race with this team.

Masnada took the jersey from Anson Charmig of Uno-X. It was Masnada's first stage win since his victory in San Giovanni Rotonda at the Giro d'Italia three years ago, and although it came in a small race like Oman, Masnada was delighted with the win.

"It's always beautiful when you win," he said. It's a dream come true. It doesn't matter if it's a big race or a small race. As long as it's a win, it matters to me."

"Of course, I'm here for GC and the team has given me the possibility. And at this point, I am the leader. [Tomorrow will be another hard stage. I will fight to win this stage race until the last stage."