Geraint Thomas dug deep to finish fifth on the penultimate stage of the Eneco Tour and remain firmly in the general classification running. The Welshman was able to hang tough as an elite front group was gradually whittled down in Belgium over a gruelling parcours.

The Team Sky leader crossed the line 56 seconds back on solo stage victor Tim Wellens after the Lotto Belisol rider launched an audacious attack in the closing stages to wipe out his deficit and capture the race lead.

The main contenders looked at one another as the Belgian headed up the road and a late chase from Lars Boom (Belkin) was unable to claw back enough time, handing Wellens a seven second overall advantage on Boom and 13 over outgoing leader Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Shimano).

Thomas now sits 38 back going into the final day, dropping a place to sixth after Wellens elevated himself 15 positions during a spectacular finish.

There were attacks everywhere in the closing stages with bonus seconds on the line and a close general classification. Thomas launched a brief acceleration of his own with 13.5km to go as the race headed for its finish in Aywaille on the iconic Cote de la Redoute.

After Friday’s stage in Tour of Flanders country the race moved on to terrain synonymous with Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

After the stage Sports Director Nicolas Portal talked to the Sky website through a difficult stage and a gutsy performance from Thomas.

"It was a really tough stage today with barely any flat roads. The guys were either climbing or descending and that made for a difficult day. The racing was hard because you had guys interested in the stage win and also riders who were looking at the GC,” Portal said.

"Geraint Thomas tried to do his best. He made the right choice in how he wrote. We discussed the possibility of trying something if the legs were feeling okay. It was a day for that but if you were going to try a move we wanted to do it somewhere less obvious - where people weren't expecting. He felt okay but he felt on the limit. He gave it a couple of tries but he said he didn't have the kick,” Portal continued.

"He did a good job and we'll see what happens tomorrow. We saw how close it was today and the final stage should be the same. With the climbs if you have a bad day then you can lose everything so it will be another exciting stage for the fans," Portal finished.