The closing kilometres of the course were expected to suit the sprinters, despite there being an uphill drag towards the line, but they were first tasked with tackling a series of climbs on the route.

A four-man breakaway of Italy’s Daniel Oss, Spain’s Amets Txurruka and the Russian duo of Alexander Foliforov and Pavel Brutt moved away from their peloton at 40km into the stage of the International Cycling Union (UCI) World Tour race.

At one stage the peloton were more than six minutes behind but eventually closed on the quartet, catching them with six kilometres until the finish in the city of Benevento.

While the sprinters team began to hit the front of the race, Germany’s Marcel Kittel, winner of stages two and three, was unable place himself in a position to claim another victory having struggled on the climbs.

Instead, his Etixx-Quick Step team looked to lead-out Italy’s Matteo Trentin only to be caught out by a late crash and see his chance fade.

Greipel hit the front of the race in the final kilometre after sterling work by his Lotto–Soudal team-mates, the 33-year-old powering away to secure victory in a time of 5 hours 40min 35sec.

France’s Arnaud Demare finished second on the same time as the winner, having also finished as the runner-up on stage two to Kittel.

Sonny Colbrelli of Italy settled for third place, ahead of Luxembourg’s Bob Jungels.

“Jurgen Roelandts rode at the front from five kilometres to go until one-and-a-half kilometres, it was more than we expected, so after he had worked so hard, I had no choice but to win,” said Greipel, winner of stage at every Grand Tour he has participated in since 2008.

“The sprints aren’t just between Marcel Kittel and me, there are a lot of good sprinters in this race.

“He’s hard to beat when he’s set up by his team, he’s on another level as a sprinter these days.

“I wouldn’t say we’re rivals, I’m not getting any younger but I’ll do my best until the end of my career”.

The Netherlands’ Tom Dumoulin finished comfortably in the peloton to maintain his overall race lead of 14 seconds, with Jungels currently lying second.

Tomorrow’s 175km stage from Ponte to Roccaraso is due to provide the first summit finish of the 99th edition of the race.