World road champion Philippe Gilbert of the BMC Racing Team sprinted to third place Saturday at Ronde van België to climb from sixth to fifth overall with one stage to go.

Maxim Iglinskiy (Astana Pro Team) stole the stage win by soloing out of a seven-man breakaway inside the final kilometre of the 156.3km race. He crossed the line two seconds before André Greipel (Lotto Belisol Team) beat Gilbert in the field sprint. Gilbert said he had good support from his teammates on the way to earning a four-second time bonus for finishing third.

"Martin Kohler and Dominik Nerz stayed with me until the last kilometers," he said. "I was placed well with 700 metres to go and I gained some places to finish third. I'm still one minute behind [race leader] Tony Martin, but it's better to gain some time than lose it." Gilbert trails Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) by 57 seconds with only Sunday's 177km race to come, one that travels through Gilbert's home region.

"We have one objective here and it's the general classification," BMC Racing Team Assistant Director Yvon Ledanois said. "The stage today was important because Omega Pharma did a lot of work while Philippe, Manuel Quinziato and Greg Van Avermaet had an easy time in the peloton. Tomorrow will be more important. I'm hoping for good weather."