BMC Racing Team's Marcus Burghardt finished third in Sunday's bunch sprint finish at the Tour de Wallonie while teammates Jempy Drucker gained the lead in the intermediate sprint classification and Loïc Vliegen moved into seventh overall.

Burghardt was one of the first aggressors in the BMC Racing Team's plan to go on the offensive in the 171.3-kilometer race. The past Tour de France stage winner was part of a seven-man breakaway.

"We said that we wanted to go in the breaks today and make the race hard and always have someone in the mix," Burghardt said. "It was a good group. But later, Philippe Gilbert decided to open the race a bit from behind. So we put some pressure on Etixx-Quick Step. They expended a lot of energy."

Gilbert's attack on the peloton forced another selection. Soon, the BMC Racing Team had three riders of the 14 in front: Burghardt, Gilbert and Alessandro De Marchi. After a chase by Etixx-Quick Step and Tinkoff-Saxo brought the escapees back, five riders shook free of the peloton. This time, Drucker represented the BMC Racing Team.

"It was good Jempy was immediately in the next move because we never had to chase," Burghardt said. "The pressure was always on Etixx-Quick Step."

Drucker won both intermediate sprints to take a two-point lead in the intermediate sprints standings and the fuchsia jersey that goes with it.

Danny Van Poppel (Trek Factory Racing) won the stage ahead of Matti Breschel (Tinkoff-Saxo). Burghardt's third-place finish matched his best result of the season, also achieved last month at the German national road championships.

Vliegen, who won "most aggressive honors" on Saturday's opening stage, moved up from eighth in the overall standings and is 36 seconds behind Terpstra. 

"It was a very hard stage with a sprint at the end, but I think tomorrow - with more than 200 kilometers and an uphill finish - that is a stage for Philippe," BMC Racing Team Sport Director Valerio Piva said.