Sunday, 18 September 2011

Rabobank Boom Wins in Britain


Mark Cavendish sprinted to his second stage victory in the Tour of Britain in London to secure the points jersey while Dutchman Lars Boom won overall.

Cavendish and HTC-Highroad team-mate Mark Renshaw secured their third one-two finish of the week on Whitehall.

Rabobank rider Boom won the final gold jersey by 36 seconds having won two stages and finished second in two more.

Team Sky's Steve Cummings was second after riding well in Sunday morning's time trial, won by Brit Alex Dowsett.

The final stage was a 10-lap circuit of rainy central London on Sunday afternoon.

"Rabobank was doing a lot of the work at the front and Team Sky was also controlling," said HTC-Highroad sporting director Allan Peiper.

"But by the last kilometre, Renshaw and Eisel were on top of it, and dropped Cav off in the usual fashion for the last time."

"The crowds were great; it was a spectacular finish for Cav in his home country, as well as for the team to finish a long tour on a high note."

Cavendish will start as favourite in next Sunday's road race at the World Championships in Denmark. The event begins on Tuesday with the women's time trial, with the men's time trial on Wednesday.

Stage 8b results:

1 Mark Cavendish (HTC/GB) 1 hour 59 min 13 sec

2 Mark Renshaw (HTC/Aus) same time

3 Robert Förster (UnH/Ger) same time

4 Geraint Thomas (Sky/GB) same time

5 Ben Swift (Sky/GB) same time

Stage 8a (time trial) results:

1 Alex Dowsett (Sky/GB) 10 min 14 sec

2 Lars Boom (Rab/Ned) + 5 sec

3 Lieuwe Westra (Vac/Ned) same time

4 Stephen Cummings (Sky/GB) + 9 sec

5 Geraint Thomas (Sky/GB) + 16sec

Final overall standings

1 Boom 2 hours 57 min 35 sec

2 Cummings + 36 sec

3 Jan Barta (TNA/Cze) +55

4 Linus Gerdemann (Leo/Ger) +57

5 Jonathan Tiernan Locke (Rap/GB) + 1 min 3 sec