The Danish rider was involved in a four-man move from the start of the 204 kilometre stage from Sint-Pieters-Leeuw to Lanaken.

Julius van den Berg of The Netherlands, France’s Alexis Gougeard and Belgium’s Jonas Rickaert joined Cort in the break.

They were able to defy the sprinter’s teams by staying away for the duration of the stage, with Cort taking the victory.

The Astana rider, who won a stage at this year’s Tour de France, crossed the line in a winning time of 4 hrs 39min 50sec.

Australia’s Caleb Ewan led the peloton across the line at 33 seconds behind the winner.

Slovenia’s Matej Mohoric remains in the overall race led, with the Bahrain-Merida rider still just three seconds clear of Belgium’s Sean De Bie.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) WorldTour race will continue tomorrow with a 182km stage from Riemst to Sittard-Geleen.

A breakaway nearly defied the peloton on the opening stage of the Ladies Tour of Norway as Canada’s Karol-Ann Canuel led with a solo attack in the closing metres of the 127km stage.

She led into the finishing straight, but a near 13-kilometre chase came to an end when the Boels Dolmans rider was caught.

Netherlands’ Marianne Vos, a winner in Sweden last week, claimed victory in the sprint by finishing in a time of 3:18:03.

Sweden’s Emilia Fahlin and American rider Coryn Rivera completed the top three.

Vos will take a three second lead into tomorrow’s 127.6 kilometres stage from Fredrikstad to Sarpsborg at the UCI Women’s WorldTour event after earning a time bonus for the stage win.