Leaders Jay Vine and Ben O'Connor remain in control of the UAE Tour after a day when two of their sprint colleagues missed out on their chance to join the Australian cycling success story.
BORA-hansgrohe's Sam Welsford, who began his season with a brilliant stage treble at the Tour Down Under, was held up by a late crash in his bid to win Thursday's fourth stage, which was eventually annexed amid another chaotic finish by Soudal-QuickStep's Belgian ace Tim Merlier.
And Alpecin-Deceuninck's Kaden Groves, the other top Australian sprinter in the field, also missed the boat, having to settle for 18th place amid the tremendously high-quality field of fast finishers.
The crash, that came within the last three kilometres, didn't have any effect on the general classification, with Vine, competing for the home UAE Team Emirates, still leading the way by 11 seconds from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale's O'Connor following their heroics on the third stage.
The Aussie pair will be seeking to stay out of harm's way over the next two sprint stages as well, with the result set to be decided by Sunday's final mountain stage on the slopes of Jebel Hafeet.
“It’s just a little bit different for me to be the rider in the lead," admitted Vine. "It’s pretty special and Dubai is a special place to be in for this.
"During the first part of the stage, it was pretty relaxed so I took time to look at the buildings but further on, I stayed focused with my teammates to stick together.
"Once we reached the last kilometres, I felt relieved and stress free. It’s a very nice race to be in this position and our priority remains to win the overall.”
Thursday's 168km pancake-flat stage through the desert to Dubai was a day for the sprinters to do battle, but it was again Merlier, just as on the opening day, who proved too strong for the rest of the field as he stormed past Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) to take the spoils convincingly in the final metres.
Groves had looked in a decent position but lost his way amid the frantic finish, while Welsford, who eventually limped home 130th, never even got started, with his sprint train all getting caught up in the crash, although none were reported to have suffered injuries.
Welsford, the points winner in the Tour Down Under, hasn't enjoyed a happy time so far in the UAE, having also suffered a crash in training which left him a bit bloodied and battered before the race started.
Jayco-AlUla's Dylan Groenewegen and sprint legend Mark Cavendish also didn't feature in the denouement.
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