Matteo Bono (Lampre-ISD) wins fifth stage: Eneco Tour

The penultimate stage of the race, a 189.2 kilometres route starting and finishing in Genk, saw Boasson Hagen successfully defending a lead of 12 seconds in what proved a fascinating tactical battle.

The escape group held off the main pack by just six seconds, with Bono edging out Sergey Renev (Astana) and Artem Ovechkin (Katusha).

All the overall contenders came in together, meaning that Boasson Hagen retains his 12 seconds GC advantage over Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto), with David Millar (Garmin-Cervelo) still 18 seconds back in third and Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing) now 25 seconds down in fourth.

Boasson Hagen not only keeps the overall lead but also continues to head the other two classifications - the red points jersey and the young rider's green jersey.

There is still plenty of work to do as the race comes down to the wire in Holland on Sunday over a 201.2km route around Sittard-Geleen. A whole series of short, sharp climbs - no fewer than 22 - await the riders as the day covers much of the ground of the Amstel Gold Race.

That was underlined by Team Sky Sports Director Servais Knaven who said: "Many of the climbs are the same but potentially the crucial difference is that Amstel finishes on the Cauberg whereas we pass the Cauberg with 60k to go tomorrow.

"And those 60k are probably among the easiest kilometres of the whole stage. So the hardest part is in the middle before it flattens out a bit. It’s going to take a lot of energy to control the race tomorrow but the final looks a little bit easier so we have to try and have enough riders for those last 60 kilometres.

"They all did a big effort today – especially Christian [Knees] and Mathew [Hayman] who did an excellent job – but everyone is incredibly excited and motivated to make sure we bring home the jersey tomorrow. That’s our one goal and we’ll be going 100% for that."