photo credits @ Tour of Britain
Caleb Ewan (Orica-BikeExchange) sprinted to victory in the final stage of the 2016 Tour of Britain in London today, while Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) finished safely in the peloton to secure the overall victory.
Cummings carried a 26 second advantage over Rohan Dennis (BMC) into the final stage, but that looked unlikely to be challenged with only 25 seconds worth of time bonuses available at the intermediate sprints along a mainly flat 100 kilometer route around central London.
Race Highlights
The 16 laps of the circuit were animated by the early breakaway group containing Jasper Bovenhuis (AnPost Chain Reaction), Taylor Phinney (BMC), Tom Stewart (Madison Genesis) and Gabriel Cullaigh (GB).
From there, the quartet went on to establish a minor advantage of around 45 seconds over the peloton.
The group allowed Bovenhuis to collect the remaining intermediate points he needed to secure the title in the sprint classification.
Despite a couple of last ditched attacks from Phinney and Steward, the breakaway group was brought to a close during the last 12 kilometers.
Once the peloton was back together, Lotto-Soudal looked to be lining up their man André Greipel to contest the sprint, but his teammate Jens Debusschere was allowed to attack off the front during the closing kilometer.
At one point, it looked as though Debusschere might be able to hold out, until Danny van Poppel (Trek-Segafredo) made a huge effort to bridge his way across, as did the rest of the peloton eventually.
Shortly thereafter, Ewan launched his attack along the right hand side of the road away from the main bunch, and got well ahead of the likes of Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) before they could respond.
From there, the young Australian easily made his way across the line to seize the stage victory.
Meanwhile, Cummings finished just behind the lead group, to secure the overall race title, marking only the second British rider to win the race since Bradley Wiggins in 2013.
Top 20 Finishers
1 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-BikeExchange 2:09:24 2 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 3 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Soudal 4 Boy Van Poppel (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 5 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky 6 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 7 Daniel McLay (GBr) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 8 Steele Von Hoff (Aus) ONE Pro Cycling 9 Nicola Ruffoni (Ita) Bardiani CSF 10 Paolo Simion (Ita) Bardiani CSF 11 Carlos Barbero (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 12 Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 13 Russell Downing (GBr) JLT Condor 14 Rick Zabel (Ger) BMC Racing Team 15 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac 16 Jack Bauer (NZl) Cannondale-Drapac 17 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data 18 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Etixx – Quick-Step 19 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 20 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Cannondale-Drapac
Final general classification
1 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data 31:30:45 2 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:26 3 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:00:38 4 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal 0:01:02 5 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac 0:01:21 6 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky 0:01:26 7 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:01:48 8 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:52 9 Julien Vermote (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:02:12 10 Jacopo Mosca (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:32 11 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:02:52 12 Mark Christian (GBr) Team WIGGINS 0:04:02 13 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:05:10 14 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Great Britain 0:05:23 15 Erick Rowsell (GBr) Madison Genesis 0:05:41 16 Dion Smith (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling 0:06:10 17 Steven Lampier (GBr) JLT Condor 0:07:05 18 Domingos Gonçalves (Por) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:08:11 19 Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:08:15 20 Ruben Zepuntke (Ger) Cannondale-Drapac 0:08:42
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