Mark Cavendish was edged out of a stage win for the second day in a row at the Ster ZLM Toer road cycling event but the world champion retained the yellow jersey in his final race before the Tour de France.
Cavendish lost out to Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) on Friday and had to settle for the runners-up spot on Saturday after Lars Boom (Rabobank) triumphed in the stage three trek from Hotel Verviers to La Gileppe.
The Manxman has now opened up an eight-second lead atop the overall standings - ahead of Boom - going into Sunday's final stage in Holland, with Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) and Greipel losing touch with the front group.
It was a good day for Team Sky as Cavendish's team-mate Juan Antonio Flecha finished third to move six seconds behind Boom in the standings.
The team's sports director Steven de Jongh told their official website: "It was an awesome ride by the whole team, very impressive.
"It was a tough, tough finish but the guys did great and Mark now has eight seconds in hand of Boom going into what's a pan-flat final stage so that's good."