Edvald Boasson Hagen wins Tour of Britain as Elia Viviani takes stage 8
Last Updated: 13/09/15 9:02pm
Edvald Boasson Hagen completed overall victory of the Aviva Tour of Britain as Elia Viviani sprinted to his third win of the race on stage eight in central London.
Viviani (Team Sky) crossed the line on Regent Street in second place behind Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal), but the German was later relegated for deviating from his racing line and across Viviani's path.
Boasson Hagen (MTN-Qhubeka) finished fourth on the stage to seal a 13-second overall victory over runner-up Wout Poels (Team Sky), with Britain's Owain Doull (WIGGINS) completing the podium, 42 seconds back.
Boasson Hagen becomes the first man to win the Tour of Britain twice, having previously triumphed in 2009, and his fine form over the past week suggests he will be one of the favourites for the World Championship road race on Sunday, September 27.
Doull had started the day fourth, one second behind Rasmus Gulhammer (Cult Energy Pro Cycling), but he leapfrogged the Dane by gaining two bonus seconds at an intermediate sprint.
Doull also sealed victory in the points classification, while Peter Williams (ONE Pro Cycling) won both the sprints and mountains classifications.
Boasson Hagen said: "I am very happy with that win. I always like to race to win. I think perhaps this year it was harder to win the GC than back in 2009 - the course was tougher and Sky were very strong."
Stage eight took place over 14 laps of a 6.2km circuit in central London and although a breakaway formed, there was never any doubt the stage would culminate in a sprint finish.
Greipel was given the perfect lead-out by his team and initiated the sprint, but when Viviani appeared on his left shoulder, he veered towards that side of the road and forced the Italian to take evasive action.
Viviani recovered to cross the line in second place but wagged his finger at Greipel in protest and the race jury agreed that he had been obstructed.
Viviani told teamsky.com: "When I saw Greipel go, I went directly on his left-hand side. He came across a little bit, and that edged me towards the barriers. I'm disappointed because it is better to win without this. He is a big champion and I've never seen him do this before. But we won in London and that is the main thing."
Stage eight result
1 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky, 1:50:16
2 Juan Jose Lobato (Esp) Movistar, same time
3 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Etixx - Quick-Step, st
4 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN-Qhubeka, st
5 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Soudal, st
6 Sondre Holst Enger (Nor) IAM Cycling, st
7 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Etixx - Quick-Step, st
8 Graham Briggs (Gbr) JLT Condor, st
9 Ruben Zepunkte (Ger) Cannondale-Garmin, st
10 Owain Doull (Gbr) WIGGINS, st
Final general classification
1 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN-Qhubeka
2 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky, +13
3 Owain Doull (Gbr) Team Wiggins, +42
4 Rasmus Gulhammer (Den) Cult Energy, +43
5 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx-Quick-Step, +51
6 Ruben Fernandez (Esp) Movistar, same time
7 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, st
8 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Cannondale-Garmin, +53
9 Chris Anker Sorensen (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo, +59
10 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) An Post-Chain Reaction, +1:02
