Alexander Kristoff Of Katusha took the win on the fourth stage of the Tour Of Qatar.
Edvald Boasson-Hagen of Dimension Data was the new leader in the race following the time trial and he led the riders out on this queens stage which was from Al Zubarah Fort to Madinat Al Shamal and 189 kms long.
Twelve riders were in a a break as soon as the flag dropped but they were caught and eleven riders in Mark McNally, Zhakarov, Gretsch, Turgot, Eaton, Van Hecke, De Vries, Kurek and Koep got clear.
After thirty eight kilometres, they had a lead of 1.35 which had gone out to 2.10 by the time Gretsch took the first sprint of the day.
An attack by BMC split the peloton into three groups and the front group were now only 1.05 behind the eleven up front and with ninety kilometres to go, the escapers were joined by the front group which included the race leader.
Mark Cavendish in the Silver Jersey, suffered a mechanical but got back into the peloton as Van Hecke, Gretsch, McNally and Asselman formed a new break and managed to get 1.55 ahead with 54kms left.
Gretsch took the second sprint but with six kilometres left, they were only 36 seconds ahead of the peloton which included the race leader who had got back into the race after a puncture.
The escapers were caught and it came down to a sprint which saw Alexander Kristoff of Katusha take the win in 3.57.12 ahead of Greg Van Avermaet and Jacqo Guarnieri , followed by Sam Bennett and Mark Cavendish, who was fifth and that was enough to put him back into the lead of the race with a two second lead over Greg Van Avermaet.