Team Sky duo Alex Dowsett and Davide Appollonio were sixth and seventh respectively as Omega Pharma-Lotto's Philippe Gilbert won Ster Elektrotoer.
Dowsett, who figured in a late escape which briefly opened up a 15-second advantage on the field, ended up one minute and 21 seconds back in sixth on the standings after the fifth and final day - his highest overall stage race finish in an impressive debut season as a professional.
And Italian youngster Appollonio moved up three places into seventh after taking fourth place behind Leigh Howard (HTC-Highroad) in the bunch sprint which ended the last stage in Etten-Leur.
Howard edged out Sebastián Haedo (Saxo Bank Sungard) and Tyler Farrar (Garmin Cervelo) while Appollonio's consistently high-placed efforts during the week saw him take second in the sprint classification behind Farrar.
Sunday's displays were all the more praiseworthy as Team Sky had been down to just the three riders on the final stage, which was reduced even further when Russell Downing was caught up in a crash 20km out.
Against the odds
So it was no surprise that Sports Director Servais Knaven was proud of the performance when he talked us through the closing stages, saying: "On the local laps with 25km to go there was a small break with Alex in it, but with Ramunas Navardauskas, who was third in the GC, also there, they didn't get more than 15 seconds ahead.
"So at 15km to go they came back and it was set for a sprint from that point onwards. Davide again showed good pace but with only Alex in support it was always going to be hard. We'd lost Russell with 20km to go; he's okay, it was nothing major, but he was dropped because of the crash.
"So Alex helped Davide and did a great job for him. But it's really difficult on your own; he needed a lot of luck and good legs - but just had the good legs.
"Overall though the whole team did great all week and I'm really happy with them."
Gilbert triumphs on GC
The outright glory belonged to Gilbert who had been protecting an advantage of just a second over Niki Terpstra (Quick-Step) on the general classification going into the 192-kilometre route which rounded off the event.
He had boosted that to three seconds by taking the last intermediate sprint, with Terpstra in third, but with 10, six and four seconds respectively available to the first three across the finishing line, there was everything still to play for in the closing stages - which were three quickfire laps around Etten-Leur.
And Gilbert remained right at the head of affairs as he attacked inside the final kilometre and briefly put clean air between himself and the rest.
However it was all back together for the final dash up the Brouwerstrasse, but with Howard, Haedo and Farrar the first three home, it meant that Gilbert held on for the overall glory.
Gilbert, who had put himself in pole position by climbing to victory in Saturday's penultimate stage, was winning the race for the second time in three years and his triumph was the latest in a memorable season which has also seen him claim all three Ardennes Classics.
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