Zdenek Stybar of the Czech Republic won the third stage of the Tour of the Low Countries on Wednesday as France's Arnaud Demare retained the overall lead.
Former world cyclo-cross champion Stybar, riding for the Omega Pharma-Quick Step team, beat Argentina's Ariel Maximiliano Richeze of Lampre and Dutchman Lars Boom of the Belkin team in a sprint finish.
That trio had stolen away from the rest of the pack inside the final kilometre and finished two seconds clear of the peloton at the end of the 187.3km ride from Oosterhout to Brouwersdam in the Netherlands.
Boom, who won the Tour of the Low Countries last year, is now second in the overall standings, one second behind Demare of the FDJ team, who won Tuesday's second stage.
Stybar and Australia's Mark Renshaw are both three seconds off the overall lead ahead of Thursday's fourth stage, a 169km ride from Essen in Belgium to Vlijmen, the other side of the Dutch border.
The seven-stage race concludes on Sunday.
