Dutch rider Niki Terpstra won the Eneco Tour after taking second to Edvald Boasson Hagen in Sunday’s seventh and final stage.
Norway’s Boasson Hagen claimed the closing day’s honours in a sprint at the end of a challenging 197.8km ride from Bornem to Grammont.
Terpstra (Etixx) was placed fifth going into Sunday’s stage, almost half a minute behind Australian BMC rider Rohan Dennis, the overall leader.
But Dennis’s hopes of victory were compromised when he crashed after 48km.
Terpstra, a former Paris-Roubaix winner, said: “The plan was to attack to put BMC and Rohan Dennis in difficulty, and it worked perfectly.”
For Terpstra this was the perfect preparation for his main end-of-season target, the world championship time-trial in Doha.
Finishing third in the final stage was Belgium’s Oliver Naesen, who came second overall.
Dutch rider Tom Dumoulin was fourth on the day, followed by Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet and world champion Peter Sagan. – Agence France-Presse
