Edvald Boasson Hagen claimed the points classification jersey at the Eneco Tour by sprinting to third place on the penultimate stage.

The Norwegian - who also bagged podium places on stages two and four - was led out brilliantly by Greg Henderson on the long closing straight in Heers but it was André Greipel (HTC-Columbia) who proved the quickest sprinter on the day and wrapped up his second stage win ahead of Jürgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma - Lotto).

Boasson Hagen's performance also ensured he stayed in third position overall and closed the gap on GC leader Tony Martin to one minute and 22 seconds, but the German's eighth-placed finish means he is now firmly in the driving seat with just one 16.9km individual time trial stage remaining.

Overcast conditions had seen the riders off at the start of the 205.6km trek and Maro Aerts (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and Sergey Lagutin (Vacansoleil) brought the race to life soon after they exited Bilzen.

The peloton initially seemed content to let that duo stay out ahead, but their five-minute advantage had almost halved as they hit the Mur de Huy with 50km remaining.

By that time Alexandr Pliushkin (Katusha) had also jumped off the front and the chase pack momentarily fractured as they followed him up that steep, winding climb.

The bunch quickly regrouped though on the descent which followed and Pliushkin was swept up moments before the two leaders were also caught with 31km to go.

Subsequent attacks followed thick and fast in the closing stages, with Frederik Veuchelen (Vacansoleil), Lars Boom (Rabobank) and Gert Steegmans (RadioShack) all prominent, but Team Sky and HTC-Columbia were in no mood to let anyone stay away and the remaining chancers were also reeled in as they hurtled towards the finish line.

Boasson Hagen led out the sprint after a mighty effort from Henderson but was denied by a typically-powerful kick from Greipel which yielded his second victory of the tour.

Battling on

After the stage, Boasson Hagen was upbeat about at his result and praised his team-mates for yet another strong lead-out display. The 23-year-old also insisted he would battle on to the end on Tuesday's final stage in Genk.

He told us: "It was really nice to be up there again and the team did another great job for me. Greg was really strong at the end there but Greipel got himself on my wheel and managed to just come around me.

"It's going to be very hard to haul back the time on Tony Martin tomorrow but I'm going to try my best and I will still be happy if I finish third overall. I'm feeling a little tired right now, but everyone else will be as well, and there's only 16.9km to go."