Pavel Brutt nearly made a big coup in today's stage of the Eneco Tour when he almost held off the peloton in a stage that seemed to be destined to end with a bunch sprint. Being disappointed to have missed out, the Russian will now fight for the GC in the WorldTour race.

There were less than 5 kilometers to go to the finish when the peloton caught the lonely fugitive Pavel Brutt. Brutt was the whole day - more than 170 kilometers - in the front with two other riders, dropped them, looked to solo to the stage victory and the leaders jersey, but the chasing teammates of stage winner Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step) prevented it.

"I am really disappointed;" he said. "Immediately after the start in Waalwijk I attacked. I believed in a successful breakaway today. Alexis Gougeard (AG2R) and Kevin Van Melsen (Wanty-Gobert) joined me in the break, but in the end they were not strong enough to keep our advantage. I was virtual leader as I took bonification seconds in the intermediate sprints. I really believed in a happy ending.

"At 40 kilometers from the finish the gap was still 4 minutes. With 12 kilometers to go I decided to go alone but I had bad luck as I had to fight against a strong crosswind in the final kilometers. Anyway, the shape is good. Also tomorrow I will go full gas in the time trial and then we will see what the hilly stages will bring."

Brutt is now 4th in the Overall Classification, 7 seconds behind white jersey Zdenek Stybar who won in Vlijmen ahead of Lars Boom (Belkin) – who lives in Vlijmen - and Sep Vanmarcke (Belkin).

"That’s the good spirit. When you are no climber or no sprinter, you have to take your chance. Smukulis did yesterday, Brutt today. This is nice," said team director Torsten Schmidt.

Rüdiger Selig suffered with stomach problems and left the race.

Tomorrow’s time trial over 9,6 kilometer will be held in Breda.