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Another day, another sprint finish and another victory for Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen at the Tour of Britain.

After Monday's win in Gretna, the world number three again timed his finish to perfection to take the fourth stage in Blackpool.

Maybe it is the kiss me quick hats and donkey rides but Colombia-HTC's Hagen clearly finds the old seaside resort illuminating.

But others won't share his views after a crash in the closing 500m sent half a dozen riders - including Team Halford's Ian Wilkinson - spinning towards the tarmac, fracturing the bunch.

Ireland's Nicolas Roche and Simon Clarke joined Italy's Federico Canuti in an early breakaway at the start of a 151km stage, which took the peloton on a circuit of Lancashire and across three categorised climbs.

And they were later joined by Vladimir Karpets, Maxime Montfort and Geraint Thomas as the race tackled its most difficult ascent yet, the spiteful Warrington Fell in the Forest of Bowland.

Thomas fell back into the pack after a puncture and it was not until the race entered the outskirts of Blackpool that the peloton overhauled the leading group, inspired by the sterling efforts of Garmin's Bradley Wiggins, who put in a solid shift at the head of the pack.

For the third time in four days, the sprinters were lead out to the line, with Hagen's pace enough to see off Australia's Chris Sutton, Germany's Martin Reimer and top home rider Russell Downing.

Rabobank and Holland's Kai Reus maintains control of the yellow jersey ahead of Wednesday's fifth stage, a 134km circuit of the Potteries that starts and finishes in Stoke and includes the challenging climb of Gun Hill feared by many a club cyclist.

But Hagen picked up a ten second time bonus for his second stage victory in as many days and now sits just one second back from the leader, while stage two winner Sutton is just five seconds adrift.

And Reus admits he can feel Boasson Hagen breathing down his neck.

"I only had about three hours sleep last night because I was worrying about this stage but I came through it pretty well," said Reus.

"The climbs in the middle were very hard and very steep but I did alright.

"Boasson Hagen is closing in on me and it couldn't be much closer but we will have to see what happens.

"I wasn't expecting to have the yellow jersey at any point, so to be able to keep it for a few days is a great feeling."

Australia's Sutton now leads the points classification while Thomas de Gendt still leads the mountain and sprints standings.

More Than The Games / Eurosport