Yves Lampaert of Etixx Quick Step has taken over as leader of the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen after victory on the first stage.
Anton Vorobyev (Katusha) was in the leader's jersey after his victory in the prologue for this stage of 174.1km from Bruges to Harelbeke but it was Van Hoecke, Slater, Kerkhof and Gardeyn who were first to get away taking a lead of 2.45.
They were eventually caught, leaving a large group of riders on the front with 57kms to go.
On the first of four 9.9km laps, Yves Lampaert, Van der Sande, Gougeard, Cordeel and Selvaggi took to the front and were not be caught again.
Under the flam rouge and the sprint was on and Yves Lampaert, who was fifth in the prologue took the win in 3.54.52 just beating Lotto Soudal's Tosh Van der Sande and Sander Cordeel of Vastgoedservice - Golden Palace, which also gave him the race lead going into the final stage.
"I'm very happy I won in Harelbeke," Lampaert said to his team's website. "It's 5 kilometres from where I live, so it's a really big moment for me. It was a tough race.
"When we passed on the Oude Kwaremont we were on the front pushing the pace and we entered a breakaway with 14 or 15 riders. I was there with Wisniowski and Velits.
"We tried to stay in front but the peloton caught us just before the final circuit started. But on the first lap I went for the bonification and as a consequence of this acceleration we were in front with five riders.
"So at that point we started pulling. I thought it would be hard to pull off, but we made it to the end. In the last kilometre Cordeel attacked. Van der Sande then started his sprint really early to close the gap, and I was on his wheel. I started my sprint at 200 metres to go and was able to pass him.
"This is also a special day because I want to dedicate this victory to Philippe Van Dorpe, who died not long ago. He was the race organizer but also one of my sponsors as an Under-23 rider. He was even a good friend of the team. So this win is for him.
"Concerning tomorrow, we will try to do everything to keep the leader's jersey. It won't be easy with an unpredictable race on a parcours that includes climbs like the Kemmelberg, but the goal is to defend me as the overall leader."