Zdenek Stybar of Omega Pharma Quick Step has won the second stage of the Eneco Tour of The Netherlands and Belgium.
A 177.4km stage from Waalwijk to Vlijmen on a horrible, rainy day, saw Andrea Guadini of Astana in the leader's jersey and leading the peloton out of Waalwijk.
Kevin Van Melsen of WantyGroup, AG2R's Gougeard and Pavel Brutt of Katusha formed the day's break and were 5.51 ahead with 150kms remaining.
Brutt took the first bonification sprint and the second as well as their lead dropped to 4.50 going into the final fifty kilometres.
Brutt, then took the third sprint to put him only a second behind the race leader and without Sacha Madolo who was struggling from his crash yesterday.
With 38kms left, the gap was down to 4.11 as the main teams started to work on the front of the peloton.
Europcar's Antonine Duchenne hit the deck with 34kms to go when his rain cape got caught in his front wheel.
Up the road, Van Melsen took the fourteen points for taking the Primus Checkpoint first sprint .
David Millar was on the front for Garmin Sharp as the peloton tried to the escapers back. The lead was 2.36 with eighteen kilometres left.
Another minute was gained by the peloton so going into the final ten kilometres, Brutt went off on his own on what was little more than a cycle lane.
Matteo Trentino of Omega Pharam Quick Step crashed as his other team mates and Belkin led the charge as the rain started to come down.
Brutt was pedalling on but the sprint teams were working together as the gap came down to 32 seconds with 5.6kms left.
Brutt was caught with 4.7kms to go, so Phillipe Gilbert launched an attack with Stybar.
Under the flam rouge and a group of three were looking for the peloton to push on.
With three hundred metres left, the defending champion Zdenek Stybar went and won in 4.06.14 ahead of Belkin duo Lars Boom and Sep Vanmarcke, followed by Marcato, Quinziato, Jans, Appollonio, Mollema, Vermote and Broeckx.
Stybar has taken over the lead of the race and now leads Lars Boom by a second and Vanmarcke by six seconds.
Stybar said to Eurosport: "it was a hectic finish but I had to bide my team and pick my moment. I know this road so I had to go. I did not have a choice but I managed it. i'm delighted to be back and on-form.
Stage three is a 9.6km time trial in Breda.