[4] In the Tour of Qatar Daniele Bennati helped out his team mate Francesco Chicchi but today was the reverse.

The 22-year-old Norwegian got a perfect leadout from his teammates, responded to a late surge by the Garmin–Transitions team and then accelerated to the line to win with his arms waving in celebration.

That especially angered Cervélo TestTeam, who retaliated by splitting the race when Edvald Boasson Hagen stopped to uninate 55 km from the finish.

Because he was race leader, Edvald Boasson Hagen had perhaps thought the peloton would wait for him, but in the heat of battle, nobody did and 41 riders group quickly formed an echelon and accelerated up the road.

Tom Boonen got an excellent leadout from his teammates and then dug deep to find an extra bit of speed to beat Team Saxo Bank's Juan Jose Haedo.

After five days of racing, 26 riders are still within 16 seconds in the overall standings and so Friday's 18.5 km time trial will decide the winner of the inaugural Tour of Oman.

Edvald Boasson Hagen hit speeds of almost 100 km/h 100 km/h (62 mph) on the fast downhill section following the second climb and swept up the riders in front of him throughout his ride.

He is still some way from the Cancellara who can dominate Milan–San Remo, Paris–Roubaix and beat everyone in the big time trials, but his overall victory showed his class and experience.

Cancellera was satisfied with his victory but admits he was hurting very much and that there is a lot of room for improvement for the big races later in the season.