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Saturday, 17 September 2011

An Post Bagdonas wins Stage 7


Lithuanian An Post rider Gediminas Bagdonas won the seventh stage of the Tour of Britain, in a close sprint finish with Endura's Ian Wilkinson.

Mark Cavendish and overall leader Lars Boom came in seventh and 19th respectively, one minute 23 seconds behind Bagdonas.

Welsh Team Sky rider Geraint Thomas came in a respectable 10th place.

The longest stage of the Tour took the riders 124 miles (199.7km) between Bury St Edmunds and Sandringham.

Within the first hour of racing a break of six riders, which included the top five finishers and Sigma's Wouter Sybandy, lead by seven minutes from the chasing pack.

After 90km, the peloton had come within four minutes of the leaders, but the breakaways continue to push to their advantage, and with 10km to go they were still three minutes ahead.

The winner was obviously going to come from the original breakaway group, and it was Bagdonas who took the top spot on the podium following a superb sprint finish to the line.

Cavendish, who was seeking to push Boom out of first place in the overall standings, won the bunch sprint at the head of the main field.

The riders leave for the final stage in London on Sunday.

Stage seven results, Bury St Edmunds to Sandringham:

1) Gediminas Bagdonas (Lit, An Post-Sean Kelly) 4hrs 33min 17secs

2) Ian Wilkinson (GB, EnduraRacing) same time

3) Mathieu Claude (Fra, TeamEuropcar) same time

4) Stijn Neirynck (Bel, TopsportVlaanderen) same time

5) Richard Handley (GB,Team Raleigh) + 4 sec