Arnaud Demare of FDJ won the second stage of the Eneco Tour this afternoon to take control of the race overall.
Gediminas Bagdonas (AG2R), Mathew Hayman (Sky), Laurens Devreese and Tim Declercq (both Topsport Vlaanderen) were the first to make the break on a 176.9km stage from Ardooie to Vorst
In grey skys and with Brit Alex Dowsett forced out due to injuries sustained in a crash on the opening stage which was won by Belkin's Mark Renshaw, the quartet built up a good lead which was down to 4.37 with 73kms to go.
The gap to the peloton which had Team Sky with Bradley Wiggins and Ian Stannard on the front on a road which saw a number of riders suffer punctures.
Matt Haymen took the sprint on the Alsenberg with 20kms to go just after Team Sky's Berni Eisel crashed.
With Bagdonas unable to stay with the leaders, Haymen took the next sprint with 15kms remaining and set off for the finish line in Vorst.
The Sky rider was caught three kilometres later by Devreese and Declercq as the peloton moved to within a minute with ten to go.
The gap continued to drop but the trio kept going until they were caught with 2kms left and just before race leader Mark Renshaw had a mechanical as the race came into the town of Vorst on a 5% climb with Philippe Gilbert at the front.
RideLondon winner Arnaud Demare of FDJ went with about fifty metres to go and took his eighth win of the season in a time of 4.03.43 with BMC's Philippe Gilbert second and Tyler Farrar third.
Demare's win put him into the leader's jersey, three seconds ahead of Mark Renshaw and four seconds ahead of Philippe Gilbert.