Van der Breggen, the Olympic road race champion, beat Orica-Scott competitor Van Vleuten in a sprint finish at the conclusion of the 141.8 kilometre route from Stramproy to Vaals.

The pair completed the stage in a time of 3 hours 44min 27sec, with Van der Breggen claiming victory by a slender margin.

Amy Pieters, who also rides for Boels-Dolmans, completed a Dutch clean sweep of the top three as she crossed the line in third, 48 seconds behind her team-mates.

Janneke Ensing, a former speed skater, came home in fourth to maintain the Dutch domination of the penultimate stage of the event.

The Ladies Tour of Holland is also the second to last race on the 2017 International Cycling Union Women's WorldTour.

Today's result sees Van der Breggen, who also won time trial bronze at last year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, move into second place on the overall standings.

She trails Van Vleuten, the winner of the third stage on Thursday (August 31), by 43 seconds on the general classification leaderboard.

Ellen van Dijk, who was among the group which finished 48 seconds adrift of the two breakaway riders, is well placed in third going into tomorrow's final stage.

"My main objective was to get as much time advantage as possible," said Van Vleuten. 

"It was a really good situation for me now the others are more behind in the classification and it's easier to control tomorrow."

The Ladies Tour of Holland concludes tomorrow with a 159.7km stage in Sittard.