The 23-year-old Slovenian, a former world champion in the junior and under-23 categories, hopes to keep the jersey until the race finishes on Sunday (August 19).

Mohoric was part of the early breakaway that surprised the peloton in the stage to Antwerp.

He only placed fourth at the finish, but as the best placed rider of the quintet he took over the green leader's jersey.

The stage was won by Taco van der Hoorn of The Netherlands, riding for Roompot-Nederlandse Lotenj, in 3 hours 47min 42.sec

Belgium's Maxime Vantomme and Sean De Bie were second and third, with Mohoric fourth, all at three seconds.

The Slovenian, riding for Bahrain-Merida, now leads the race by one second on De Bie and 19 on former leader Stefan Küng.

Mohoric will have to survive a stage on the Flemish cobblestones to achieve his goal of an overall win, but the talented youngster shows no fear despite his limited experience on that surface.

"I came to the BinckBank Tour with a lot of ambition for the GC," says Mohoric, who previously won stages in the Giro D'Italia and Vuelta.

"The goal was to be in the right breakaway and collect seconds in the Binck golden kilometre.

"That worked out well.

"It won't be easy to keep the leader's jersey, but I will do everything I can to make it happen.

"The final stage in the Flemish Ardennes doesn't scare me.

"I haven't got a lot of experience on the cobbles, actually I never took part in a Flemish classic before.

"But I think I have the right build for it.

"I don't fear the cobbles."

Meanwhile, some of the world's leading female riders are preparing for tomorrow’s new standalone team time trial event, the day before the separate three-stage Ladies Tour of Norway starts on Friday (August 17).

Both events are part of the International Cycling Union (UCI) Women's World Tour, marking the 19th and 20th rounds.

Anna van der Breggen, ridng for Boels Dolmans, is currently leading the individual series ahead of Mitchelton-Scott team-mates Annemiek van Vleuten and Amanda Spratt.

Boels Dolmans leads the team ranking ahead of Mitchelton-Scott and Canyon-SRAM and will be the team to beat after winning the West Sweden Team Time Trial on August 11, when they beat world champions Sunweb and Cervelo Bigla.

The women's teams will race along a 24.3 kilometre course - starting at Kvisler Farm, RV21 to Aremark and finishing at Fredriksten Fortress.

The course is flat at the beginning and will finish on a climb.

London 2012 road race champion Marianne Vos will be riding for Waowdeals Pro team.

The Tour of Norway starts on Friday with a 127.7km stage from Rakkestad to Mysen.

Stage two, over the same distance, will run from Fredrikstad to Sarpsborg, with Sunday’s 154km final stage set between Svinesund and Halden.