Sergio Henao and Pete Kennaugh retained their strong GC positions as stage four ended in a sprint at the Tour of California.

Team Sky positioned themselves well during the stage which ran between Pismo Beach and Avila Beach on a day for the fast men.

47 seconds back on the gold jersey with the race's two most decisive stages still to come, Kennaugh and Henao maintained their overnight positions of 11th and 15th respectively.

The stage win went to Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) who timed his sprint to perfection on the uphill ramp to the line, fending off Wouter Wippert (Drapac) and a fast-finishing Mark Cavendish (Etixx - Quick-Step).

The result saw Sagan chip away slightly at the overall lead of Toms Skujins (Hincapie Development), with the Latvian now holding an advantage of 22 seconds at the race's halfway point.

A technical final kilometre created an exciting finish, with Daniel Oss (BMC Racing) attacking under the flamme rouge and almost holding off the chasing pack.

The peloton had to be vigilant during the 173.1km test, with coastal gusts permeating the action and creating nerves at times. Xabier Zandio was among the riders caught up in a crash after the intermediate sprint in Orcutt, but the Spaniard remounted to finish in the bunch with his team-mates.

"Up until now it's all been going good. We're still in a strong position on GC," said Sports Director Servais Knaven after the stage.

"Xabi Zandio was caught up the crash early on today but it wasn't bad and he was able to get back on no problem.

"There was quite a bit of wind around but it didn't actually effect the racing too much. A few riders got dropped in the cross-winds towards the end but it really wasn't an issue.

"Tomorrow is not going to be an easy day but there are certainly harder stages in the race. We'll look to get through that and get ready for the time trial on Friday. We need to monitor the weather as the forecast is actually for snow! So we don't really know what's going to happen."