Tim Wellens of Lotto Soudal has taken over the lead of the Eneco Tour with a victory on the sixth stage.
A 207.5km stage from Heerlen to Houffalize had Wilco Kelderman in the race lead but it was Gijs Van Hoecke who took the first Primus Sprint of the day on a stage which was without Ian Stannard.
Jan Polanc (Lampre-Merida), Mathias Brändle (IAM Cycling), Nikias Arndt (Giant-Alpecin), Sébastien Turgot (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Jérôme Baugnies (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) were able to get away and gain a lead of 1.40 after twenty five kilometres before the race in the Ardennes region crossed the Belgian border.
There were heavy showers as the break went through the feedzone with a lead of 3.50 and over the 14% Côte La Ferme Libert, some 4.50 ahead.
By the time, the break went over the finish line for the first time, the gap stood at 4.14 with 69.3 km to go.
The peloton, who had lost Jurgen Roelandts to a stomach problem, worked to bring the gap down and when it got to 2.55, a group of Tiesj Benoot (Lotto-Soudal), Chris Juul Jenson (Tinkoff-Saxo), Andriy Grivko and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), David Tanner (IAM), Vyacheslav Kuznetsov (Katusha), Greg van Avermaet (BMC) and Jan Bakelants (Ag2r-La Mondiale). went off in pursuit of those out front.
A group which included the race leader not only caught up to this group but the escapers as well and with forty kilometres left, a group of eighteen riders including Kelderman, Lutsenko, Grivko, Geschke, Arndt, Bakelants, Wellens, Benoot, Rojas, Ulissi, Slagter, Rogers, Alaphilippe, Van Avermaet, Gilbert, Felline, Juul-Jensen & Baugnies were chasing Mathias Brändle, who was passed just before the last lap started by Michael Rogers & Simon Geschke.
Then, Lotto Soudal's Tim Wellens put in an attack which saw him take all three sprints in the Golden Kilometre and get 23 seconds ahead of Greg Van Avermaet of BMC with 15.7kms left.
Wellens kept going and he was not to be caught and won in 5.28.46 with Van Avermaet second 49 seconds down and Simon Gescke some 51 seconds down.
The win meant that Wellens was the new leader of the race going into the final stage by a minute and three seconds from Greg Van Avermaet with Gijs Van Hocke in the Green Primus Sprints Jersey and Andre Greipel in the points jersey.