The Dutchman was involved in a six-man attack which formed early on in the race, which began in Essen in Belgium and finished in the Dutch village of Hoogerheide.

The group collaborated effectively to navigate the narrow twisting route as the sprint teams were hesitant to go on the offensive.

The peloton closed a one-minute gap in the final 10 kilometres, but the breakaway stayed clear, with Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux's van der Hoorn leading and winning the sprint for the line.

Mathias Norsgaard of Denmark finished second after making several late attacks, with Australia's Luke Durbridge claiming third place.

Former world under-23 champion Samuele Battistella of Italy and Belgian Thimo Willems were also in the breakaway but were unable to rival van der Hoorn's powerful finish.

Van der Hoorn took his second win of 2021 after his stage three triumph in the Giro d'Italia.

"I saw yesterday that some riders wanted to go in the breakaway today," said van der Hoorn.

"There wasn’t a big gap but the final was difficult for the peloton to control.

"When I saw the break going, I knew I had to be in it.

"Then we did everything tactically perfect, with some strong guys in there.

"In the end, I finished it off in the sprint, which I didn’t really expect but it worked out for me."

Denmark's Kasper Asgreen sits behind EF Education–Nippo rider Bissegger in the general classification in second, 19 seconds adrift.

Switzerland's Stefan Küng rounds out the top three just a second slower than the Deceuninck-Quick-Step classics specialist.

Stage four tomorrow is a flat stage and sees riders remain in the Netherlands as they travel along a 166.1km route from Aalter to Ardooie.