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Columbia-HTC's Edvald Boasson Hagen won the Eneco Tour of Benelux by 45 seconds over Sylvain Chavanel after winning the seventh and final stage in Amersfoort.

The Norwegian powered through the final stage - a 13.1km time trial - with a time of 16 minutes seven seconds, four seconds faster than Rabobank's Sebastian Langeveld.

That left him 45 seconds clear of Quick Step rider Chavanel in the general classification, while Langeveld's fast run on the final day pulled him up in to third place.

"Edvald did a great ride. It was a very technical, tricky time trial with a lot of corners and speed bumps, but he still knew exactly what to do," said Columbia-HTC boss Tristan Hoffman of the final stage.

"The weather didn't help either. It had rained hard in the morning and then was starting to dry up in the afternoon, so it was very hard to judge your effort on each corner and how big a risk to take. I gave Edvald all the information I could, and he only slightly misjudged one corner. Apart from that he came through fine."

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STAGE SIX

Columbia-HTC's Edvald Boasson Hagen extended his lead in the Eneco Tour of Benelux with a stage six win from Genk to Roermond.

The Norwegian clinched a bunch sprint in a time of three hours 28 minute ands 58 seconds to earn a 10 second bonus and stretch his overall advantage over Garmin's American Tyler Farrar to 21 seconds.

Farrar came third behind Saxo Bank's Australian Matthew Goss, all with the same time.

"It was a great sprint today," the 22-year-old said Hagen afterwards. "Mark Renshaw gave me a lead-out like the one he gave Mark Cavendish on the Champs Elysees in the Tour de France.

"The team worked perfectly to take me all the way to the line and then all I had to do was finish off the job."

Tuesday's seventh and final stage is a 13 kilometre time trial.

"Tomorrow my advantage should be enough to win overall," he added.

"I hope I get the victory because it would be a nice way to say thank you to the team for helping me so much here."

STAGE FIVE

Dane Lars Bak of Saxo Bank won the fifth stage of the Eneco Tour at Sittard as Norwegian rider Edvald Boasson Hagen of Columbia-HTC bagged the leader's jersey after placing second on the day.

Bak made his dash for the line five kilometres out to edge Boasson Hagen by 2s with Italian Francesco Gavazzi third.

Previous overall leader, American Tyler Farrar of Garmin, missed out in the late breakaway and came in 30s adrift to see Hagen pass him overall by 15s following the 204.3km stage.

Bak was among an 18-strong group including Boasson Hagen, Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel and Belgian Maxime Montfort who broke away around 50km from the line and the Dane proved to have the legs to see his challenge through to the finish.

"I am not a sprinter. I wanted to win it and knew if I was to do so I had to go for it well before the finish line. I really had to attack as the peloton came back strongly over the final 20km," said the 29-year-old Danish time-trial champion.

"But I had my doubts right to the final metre," admitted Bak, who was glad to go one better after several second places across the season.

Monday's penultimate stage is a 163km ride from Genk in Belgium to the Dutch town of Roermond, which is being tipped to finish in a bunch sprint.

The final stage on Tuesday is a short time trial which Boasson Hagen should be looking forward to, according to team manager Tristan Hoffman.

"It's quite short and totally flat so it suits Edvald, but it's also a good distance for Tyler Farrar and the riders are all very close, said Hoffman.

"This race is going to go down to the wire, but we're in a good position."

Boasson Hagen, who this year notably won the Ghent-Wevelgem classic, paid tribute to his teammates for their work on Sunday, adding: "Now I've got a pretty good chance of winning, but I'll have to see how much energy I used up today.

"I came close to victory last year but lost it when I got dropped in the crosswinds and this year I want to get it right."

STAGE FOUR

Tyler Farrar won stage four of the Eneco Tour and with it consolidated his overall lead over Tom Boonen.

The American, riding for the Garmin team, crossed the line ahead of Edvald Hagen Boasson Hagen (Columbia-HTC) and Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre) in the final mass sprint at the end of the 212.2km ride from Hasselt to Libremont in Belgium.

Quick Step's Boonen finished way back in the field, and is now 20 seconds behind Farrar in the general classification, with Boasson Hagen in third place overall.

Sunday's fifth stage moves across the border into the Netherlands for a 204.3km ride from Roermond to Sittard-Geleen.

STAGE THREE

Belgian Quick Step rider Tom Boonen won the third stage of the Eneco Tour at Hasselt, seeing off overall leader Tyler Farrar of Garmin in a sprint finish with Italian Francesco Chicchi third.

"I had earmarked this stage and it's super to have won it," Boonen said. "It was really nice today to have been riding in my home region.

"We went right past my parents' place and my village, my house, my training ground.

"To win here, in front of my fans, is really satisfying, and only makes this day more perfect.

"The four weeks off after the Tour de France have really done me good. I expected a couple of bad days this week but actually things are going great. My physical conditioning is getting better and better."

The Belgian is now only 10s behind Farrar, who won the opening two stages.

Norwegian Edval Boasson Hagen is third overall, 19s off the pace and six seconds clear of Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel.

Saturday's fourth stage in the ProTour event between Belgium and the Netherlands is a 221km ride from Hasselt to Libramont.

STAGE TWO

US rider Tyler Farrar of the Garmin team won the second stage of the Eneco Tour to consolidate his overall race lead in the ProTour event between Belgium and the Netherlands.

Farrar, who was adding this to his win in Wednesday's first stage, got the better of Belarus rival Yauheni Hutarovich and Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen in a sprint finish.

"I never thought it was going to end in a sprint," said Farrar. "The race was uncontrollable, I was reduced to playing a hand of poker in betting on a possible bunching up."

Farrar has a 13s lead over Boasson Hagen in the overall standings.

"I'm going to fight 100 per cent to hold onto the lead," he said.

STAGE ONE

American Tyler Farrar sprinted to victory on the opening stage of the Eneco Tour in Belgium to take overall leadership of the race.

The Garmin rider outmuscled Belgian Tom Boonen and Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen at the line to win the 184km stage from Aalter and Aardoie.

Farrar was delighted to wrest the yellow jersey from Frenchman Sylvian Chavanel, winner of Tuesday's prologue in Rotterdam.

"I'm in the best form of my life. The team was totally behind me. I couldn't disappoint," said Farrar.

"I was already very good in the Tour de France. And now after a little rest I feel even better. I'm very fast," he added.

The sprint finish in Ardooie was tarnished by a spectacular crash which left traces of blood on the road and saw Belgian rider Gorik Gardeyn (Silence) and Frenchman Yoann Offredo (Francaise des Jeux) taken to hospital for tests on back injuries.

PROLOGUE

Quick Step rider Sylvain Chavanel registered victory on the prologue time trial on the Eneco Tour around the streets of Rotterdam.

The Frenchman edged American Tyler Farrar (Garmin), winner of the Vattenfall Cyclassics one-day classic in Hamburg at the weekend, and Belgian rider Tom Boonen (Quick-Step) on the 4.4km route.

"It was a quick course, not very difficult and not too technical. I felt good and I was able to show my power," said Chavanel, who went off in the middle of the pack and could only watch as Farrar and Boonen went close to bettering his time.

He added: "I was aware I had put in a good time but waiting for the final results was terribly stressful."

British rider Bradley Wiggins (Garmin) came in fourth, a mere two seconds behind Chavanel.

The first stage of the race takes place between Aalter and Ardooie in Belgium, a 184 km route favourable to sprinters

Eurosport / AFP