Stephen Cummings victorious on stage 4 of Tirreno-Adriatico

Cummings soloed to victory after escaping with around 5km to go on the road from Montalto di Castro to Foligno.

News then filtered through that stage five has been cancelled due to snow.

“I was actually trying to set up the finale for Edvald Boasson Hagen to win the stage,” Cummings said. “He was our best chance. But as I was working for him, a gap was formed with only three kilometres to go.

“Normally I can do three kilometres alone so I went full gas and it worked out well.”

Team Sky’s Salvatore Puccio came in second by 13 seconds, with Cummings’ team-mate Natnael Berhane in third.

Etixx-Quickstep’s Zdenek Stybar retains the overall lead.

1 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data 6:04:49

2 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky 0:00:13

3 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Dimension Data

4 Daniel Moreno (Spa) Movistar Team

5 Jan Bakelants (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale

6 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:16

7 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff Team 0:00:25

8 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team

9 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal

10 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx - Quick-Step

1 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx - Quick-Step 15:56:32

2 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:00:09

3 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team

4 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team

5 Bob Jungels (Lux) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:00:11

6 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Etixx - Quick-Step

7 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff Team 0:00:14

8 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ 0:00:18

9 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) FDJ

10 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Tinkoff Team 0:00:20