"I did a lap around Katusha and lost that window to start my sprint. Today was one of the hardest sprints that I will ever do in my career. After the finish I kept thinking 'I'm dead - I am dead'."

Those were the words of Astana's Andrea Guardini after stage three at the Eneco Tour. Guardini finished fourth behind stage winner Tom Boonen of Belgium on the first day of Belgian racing after two stages in the Netherlands.

The last kilometers of hard work in the final sprint did not officially begin until riders passed through some technical curves and road traffic barriers safely. Lars Boom worked to bring Guardini right to the front at the best possible moment just ahead of the curves and barriers.

With an open peloton reacting to a wind off the left shoulder, Guardini passed behind and around a rider from a rival team and then passed up the right side of the sprint line to chase early attacker Arnaud Dèmare of France, who finished second. Guardini sprinted to avoid Katusha, sprinted to chase Dèmare and sprinted to cross the finish line fourth as Elia Viviani of Italy came wide to the right outside Guardini's field of vision.

Thursday's short individual time trial will see more General Classification changes ahead of three excellent stages in classics terrain.