Team Barloworld rider Enrico Gasparotto won the Ster Elektrotoer as Mark Cavendish took final stage of the race in the Netherlands.

Team Barloworld rider Enrico Gasparotto won the Ster Elektrotoer as Mark Cavendish took the final stage of the race in the Netherlands.

Team High Road's Cavendish emerged victorious after a mass sprint at the end of the 150 kilometre journey from Sittard to Gemert, pipping South African Robert Hunter and Dutchman Kenny Van Hummel.

Gasparotto, 26, had taken control of the race with victory in the third stage on Thursday and the Italian was content to sit in the peloton for its conclusion in order to ensure overall victory.

The win was Gasparotto's third triumph of the season following a stage win in the Trois Jours de La Panne-Coxyde race and his victory during the week in La Gileppe.

STAGE FOUR

Tom Boonen claimed his first victory since testing positive for cocaine at the Ster Elektrotoer in Nuth.

The Belgian sprinter took the 170km fourth stage after a perfect lead out from his Quick Step team-mate Wouter Weylandt.

Britain's Mark Cavendish (High Road) was fifth and Enrico Gasparotto finished safely in the pack to maintain his overall lead.

"My objective was to put Weylandt in the best condition to make his sprint. I started to pull at 400 mt from the finish line as fast as possible to launch the sprint and when I saw that Wouter wasn't able to pass me I went straight ahead up to the finish," Boonen said.

"In the last few days I've learnt a lot of new things about myself and about the cycling world and I have understood that there are many people who supportive. The decision that I took together with my team to return immediately to the races has been the right choice. I'm really satisfied."

STAGE THREE:

Enrico Gasparotto of Barloworld took the overall lead in the Ster Elektrotoer after winning stage three.

He finished two seconds ahead of Belarus rider Vasili Kiryienka (Tinkoff) with Matthe Pronk in third after a 192km stage from Verviers to La Gileppe.

Overnight leader Tony Martin fell and lost his yellow jersey to Gasparotto who is 17 seconds ahead of Kiryienka with two stages remaining.

Floris Goesinnen (Skil-Shimano) and Pronk broke away from the main group with 30km remaining and were joined by Kiryienka and Gasparotto with 10km remaining.

Goesinnen lost ground in the final stages but the remaining trio - who had a 35 second advantage as they went under the Flamme Rouge - manage to hold off the fast finishing peloton.

STAGE TWO:

Matti Breschel took victory atop the infamous Cauberg climb in Valkenburg after winning stage two of the Ster Elektrotoer.

The 23-year-old Danish CSC rider took his second victory in as many weeks after the 177 kilometre stage from Schijndel to Valkenburg, which included the great Cauberg climb that also marks the finish of the Amstel Gold classic.

German Rabobank rider Paul Martens finished second in the 23-man sprint, while Italy's Enrico Gasparotto of Barloworld also finished atop the podium.

CSC man Bradley McGee led the second group at six seconds behind the lead bunch, while controversial Belgian and former world champion Tom Boonen, banned from the Tour de France for cocaine use, finished near the back of that same group.

"It's definitely a beautiful place to win a race - even if it isn't a classic," said Breschel, who won the Philadelphia International Cycling Championship last week.

"I feel like everything came together for me when I won in the States not long ago. It convinced me that I've been doing the right thing and of course it's also motivated me to train hard and improve my form.

"It's no secret that my next big goal is the Danish Championships. The form is there, but I'm not the only rider who has his eye on that particular jersey, I'm sure.

Prologue victor Tony Martin maintains his overall lead.

STAGE ONE:

Germany's Tony Martin won the opening stage of the 22nd Ster Elektrotoer in the Netherlands.

The Team High Road rider finished the 6km stage in a time of 7:20.74. Russia's Nikolai Trusov finished 2.45 seconds behind for the Tinkoff team, while Barloworld's Welshman Geraint Thomas was 3.83 seconds behind Martin in third.

Mark Cavendish and Roger Hammond came in fourth and fifth respectively to make it three Britons and three Team High Road riders in the top five finishers.

The 689km tour from Hoofstradt to Gemert is the first race which Tom Boonen is competing in since he tested positive for cocaine, which saw the Belgian rider barred from entering the Tour of Switzerland.

The five-stage race continues on Wednesday with the 177km race from Schijndel to Valkenburg.

Eurosport