Masakazu Ito of the Japan National team clocked 5 hours, 30 minutes and 34 seconds to win the fourth and longest stage -- 221 kilometers -- in the Speedy Tour d'Indonesia, which was marred by a series of accidents Wednesday.

Indonesia's cyclist Samai of the Dodol Picnic Garut team and Malaysia's Mohd. Nor Rizuan Zainal trailed in the second and third positions, respectively, only four seconds back from the stage leader.

However, the yellow jersey stayed tightly in the grip of third-stage winner Hossain Jahanbanian from the Tabriz Petrochemical team of Iran, who sits atop the overall standings with a 22-second lead over both Ito and Iranian compatriot Amir Zargari.

Jahanbanian became the first rider in the contest to win back-to-back yellow jerseys following his superb showing in the Cirebon-Purwokerto stage Tuesday. Jahanbanian snatched the jersey from second-stage leader Brad Hall of Australia. The first-stage winner was Artemy Timofee of Russia.

"I believe my team has good riders. We hope we can keep this yellow jersey until the tour end," he said, as quoted by Antara news agency.

In the local cyclist category, Samai came in first, followed by Abdullah Fatahilah from Bintang Kranggan Cycling Club of Jakarta in second place and Matnur from Kutai Kartanegara Cycling Club in third.

"I was lucky to reach the finish line, let alone to come in second," Fatahilah told reporters after the race.

Fatahilah's bicycle broke down and he injured his right leg, right arm and hip after losing control of his bicycle in the last-gasp sprint to the finish line.

Heavy rains made the road surface slippery and led to several accidents.

Several cyclists crashed out turning on the sharp downhill after the steep climb at Karangreja, Purbalingga, including Indonesia's Under-23 teammate Rully F. Ibnu. He dropped out of the race due to a severe arm injury.

"The roads were slippery and we had to avoid crashing unto motorists along the route," Rully said.

The fourth stage also featured two sprinting events. Amir Zargari of Iran won the first intermediate sprint at the 81.5 km mark. Irish Valenzuela from Jazy Sports Beacon of the Philippines won the second intermediate sprint at the 116.8 km mark.

During Thursday's fifth stage, cyclists will face the steepest terrain of the race along the 146-km route from Semarang to Yogyakarta.

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