Peter Kennaugh defended his lead in today's stage of the Tour of Austria which ended in a bunch sprint. In fact the Brit even mixed it up with the fast guys to make sure that he stayed out of trouble.

Pete Kennaugh and Team Sky held firm once again to retain the yellow jersey at the Tour of Austria following stage four.

The Manxman kept hold of a useful 29-second advantage at the race’s half-way point after the peloton contested a bunch sprint into Matrei.

Team Sky and Cannondale set about pegging the gap to the day's break and the race came back together in the closing stages as Oscar Gatto (Cannondale) claimed his second victory of the race. Juan Jose Lobato (Movistar) and Marco Haller (Katusha) rounded out the podium spots.

Team Sky led out the yellow jersey to make sure there were no issues for Kennaugh, who was high up enough to claim 10th place at the finish.

Earlier three riders – Marca Canola (Bardiani-CSF), Pawel Poljanski (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Marco Minnaard (Wanty Groupe Goubert) – had formed the day’s break over an undulating 171.9km test.

Sports Director Dan Frost described a tough stage which was negotiated well by the team.

"It was a really hard start but everybody was on their toes and working together," he explained. "It was great to see the teamwork. We started with two climbs, the latter being a first category so it was really difficult. We wanted to make sure a good break went in order to not make life too difficult for ourselves. In the end three riders went which was perfect. After 100km Cannondale came and helped with the work.

"The guys led out Pete so he was in no danger in the sprint. We still have two hard stages to come before we reach the time trial. Hopefully we can still have our forces ready and Pete has the power to be there and do a good TT. He has 29 seconds of a gap and we'll do everything to support him."