Belgian Tom Boonen dominated Australian Graeme Brown in a bunch sprint to win an explosive fourth stage of the Tour of Qatar on Wednedsday.

Quick Step’s Boonen thus picked up his third individual stage win in as many days after a mainly flat 139km of racing between the Camelodrome and the Gulf of Doha.

Brazilian Murilo Fischer (Liquigas) finished third behind Rabobank’s Brown, who on Monday was accused of causing mayhem in the bunch sprint during which Predictor-Lotto’s Tom Steels crashed and was left with a broken collarbone.

Boonen will take a 27-second lead over teammate Steven De Jongh into Thursday's penultimate stage, at 160.5km between Al Zubarah and Mesaaied, the longest of the race.

Boonen and Leif Hoste up front

Photo: Graham Watson

However, he is unlikely to be challenged in the overall by Italian sprint rival Alessandro Petacchi (Milram), who began the day trailing less than 20secs but finished it over five minutes in arrears.

The race was on after just a few hundred meters when the T-Mobile and Rabobank teams contrived to blow the stage apart. Their tactic worked, but ultimately left Boonen on the podium after 30 leaders left Petacchi and the rest of the bunch in their wake.

Aided by a strong tailwind, the leaders completed nearly 59km in the first hour and went on to build a virtually unassailable lead.

Boonen was attacked by a few of his rivals in the closing kilometers, but the Belgian brought them all back to heel on his own before dominating Brown at the finish line.

"I really enjoyed myself today," said Boonen, who now has 13 victories in four years of racing at the Tour of Qatar. His Quick Step team also won Sunday's opening stage, a team time trial,

"The hardest thing was to try and counter the attacks in the final three kilometers. They were going off all over the place, but I never panicked."

Top 10
1. Tom Boonen (B), Quick Step, 139.5km in 2:54:54
2. Graeme Brown (Aus), Rabobank, same time
3. Murilo Fischer (Bra), Liquigas, s.t.
4. Lloyd Mondory (F), Ag2r, s.t.
5. Francisco Ventoso (Sp), Saunier Duval, s.t.
6. Aart Vierhouten (Ned), Skil-Shimano, s.t.
7. Bernhard Eisel (G), T-Mobile, s.t.
8. Piet Rooijakkers (Ned), Skil-Shimano, s.t.
9. Alexandre Pichot (F), Bouygues Telecom, s.t.
10. Gregory Henderson (NZ), T-Mobile, s.t.

Overall
1. Tom Boonen (B), Quick Step, 9:27:52
2. Steven De Jongh (Ned), Quick Step, at 0:27
3. Bernhard Eisel (G), T-Mobile, at 0:33
4. Murilo Fischer (Bra), Liquigas, at 0:34
5. Wilfried Cretskens (B), Quick Step, at 0:36
6. Lloyd Mondory (F), Ag2r, at 0:37
7. Gregory Henderson (NZ), T-Mobile, at 0:42
8. Francisco Ventoso (Sp), Saunier Duval, at 0:45
9. Aart Vierhouten (Ned), Skil-Shimano, at 0:47
10. Andreas Klier (G), T-Mobile, at 0:49