World road champion Philippe Gilbert capitalized on the BMC Racing Team's aggressive approach to the final day of Ronde van België to earn third place on Sunday's stage and third place overall.

Luis León Sánchez (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) soloed the final 40 kilometers to take the stage win while Gilbert was second to Francesco Gavazzi (Astana Pro Team) in the four-up sprint for second, 27 seconds later. Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), who was part of Gilbert's group, took the overall, 36 seconds ahead of Sánchez and 51 seconds ahead of Gilbert. With rain falling throughout the 177km race, the BMC Racing Team placed Greg Van Avermaet in the day's breakaway and utilized the driving efforts of Manuel Quinziato, Dominik Nerz, and Marcus Burghardt to stress the peloton.

"It was, as expected, a hard day," Gilbert said. "And I knew that waiting until the penultimate or last climb, it would be hard to gain time on Martin. Because of that we tried something with 70km to go to put his team in difficulty. But they were very strong." Gilbert's attack on La Redoute did force a selection, but it was not enough. "I saw immediately that Martin wasn't far enough behind," Gilbert said. "I know he is much stronger on the flats, if you see how strong he was in the time trial."