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

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

Boom Tighten's Grip on Britain

Rabobank's Lars Boom has tightened his grip on the leader's gold jersey by winning stage six of the Tour of Britain, from Taunton to Wells.

Dutchman Boom now leads the general classification by 28 seconds from Team NetApp's Leopold Koenig.

Britain's Geraint Thomas was involved in a crash that eventually saw him finish the stage in 25th place and slip down to 12th overall.

Ian Bibby's tour ended after the same crash, having broken his collar bone.

Bibby, who rides for the Motorpoint team, was taken in an ambulance to hospital after the crash which involved several riders.

Boom edged out Frenchman Alexandre Pichot of Team Europcar and Koenig in a sprint finish after a demanding 90.7 mile (146 km) stage.

It was the second stage win of the race for Boom, who is now well placed with only this weekend's final two stages remaining.

Britain's Daniel Lloyd is third in general classification, one second behind Koenig.

Team Sky's Sport director Sean Yates said of the Thomas crash, ""That wasn't in the plan. G [Geraint] is a bit cut up after his crash but he is okay.

"He was going for the first sprint at kilometre 12. We knew it was going to be a fast one and they were going for it so not a good time to hit the deck.

"It was lucky I guess that it wasn't a lot worse given the speed. When you hit the ground going almost 70km an hour you can do a lot of damage."

Stage Six, Taunton to Wells, 146km:

1) Lars Boom (Ned, Rabobank) 03:19:02

2) Alexandre Pichot (Fra, Team Europcar) same time

3) Leopold Koenig (Ger, Team NetApp) same time

4) Jan Barta (Cze, Team NetApp) same time

5) Steve Cummings (GB, Sky ProCycling) same time

Overall General Classification:

1) Lars Boom (Ned, Rabobank) 20:13:18

2) Leopold Koenig (Ger, Team NetApp) @ 0:28

3) Daniel Lloyd (GB, Garmin - Cervelo) @ 0:29

4) Linus Gerdemann (Ger, Leopard Trek) @ 0:31

5) Steve Cummings (GB, Sky ProCycling) @ 0:32

Renshaw Wins Britain's Stage 5

Mark Renshaw has won the fifth stage of the Tour of Britain, ahead of HTC-Highroad team-mate Mark Cavendish.

Team Europcar's Damien Gaudin was the only real threat, testing the peloton's strength in the closing stages.

But with 3km to go the leading pack pushed stage-one winner Cavendish and Renshaw to the front, with the Australian lead-out man winning the final bunch sprint to the line.

The stage took the riders 111.8miles (180km) between Exeter and Exmouth.

Stage five was unique as it was the first to be held entirely within Devon since the Tour of Britain was revived in 2004. It is one of the toughest on the Tour with three high climbs for the riders over the Devon hills in the opening 60km.

Rapha Condor Sharp rider Jonathan Tiernan-Locke, in search of the King of the Mountains jersey, was the first to break away alongside Russell Hampton, who was only seven points ahead of Tiernan-Locke at the start of the day.

By the half-way mark the leading pack were almost six minutes ahead of the peloton, but the climbs had taken their toll and the group was soon caught.

Frenchman Gaudin tried to pull away once again in the closing stages but tired, allowing the sprinters to get back in touch for the run into Exmouth.

Both Renshaw and Cavendish went head-to-head in the last kilometre, with the Australian outwitting his team-mate and the rest of the leading pack, with a bunch sprint to the line to give HTC-Highroad a one-two finish.

That result helped HTC-Highroad retain fifth place in the team competition, five minutes 35 seconds behind leaders Team Sky.

The result also left pre-Tour favourite Cavendish 34 seconds behind leader Lars Boom in the overall general classification.

The riders next leave Taunton on Friday for the 90.7mile (146km) sixth stage to Wells.

The tour, which started in Peebles on Sunday, finishes in London on 18 September.

Stage five results, Exeter to Exmouth:

1) Mark Renshaw (Aus, HTC-Highroad) 4hrs 17min 38secs

2) Mark Cavendish (GB, HTC-Highroad) same time

3) Robert Forster (Ger, UnitedHealthcare) same time

4) Geraint Thomas (Wal, Team Sky) same time

5) Andrew Fenn (GB, An Post-Sean Kelly) same time

Overall general classification:

1) Lars Boom (Ned, Rabobank) 16hrs 54min 29secs

2) Geraint Thomas (GB, Team Sky) +12 sec

3) Boy Van Poppel (Ned, UnitedHealthcare) +14 sec

4) Daniel Lloyd (GB, TeamGarmin-Cervelo) +16 sec

5) Linus Gerdemann (Ger, LeopardTrek) +17 sec

Other notable general classification rider positions:

14) Mark Cavendish (GB, HTC-Highroad) +34 sec

15) Andrew Fenn (GB, An Post-Sean Kelly) +34 sec

23) Lars Back (Den, HTC-Highroad) +2min 46secs

27) Ben Swift (GB, Team Sky) +4min 34secs

28) Alex Dowsett (GB, Team Sky) +4min 45secs

Hushovd Wins Caerphilly Stage

Norwegian world road champion Thor Hushovd has won stage four of the Tour of Britain from Welshpool to Caerphilly.

The Garmin Cervelo rider edged out overall race leader Lars Boom of the Netherlands in a sprint finish.

Despite finishing outside the top 10, Welshman Geraint Thomas was in the lead group and moved up to second overall.

The Olympic team pursuit champion trails Boom by 12 seconds ahead of stage five from Exeter to Exmouth.

Thomas said afterwards: "It was great to be back racing in Wales. It was a tough stage with fine weather. The aim for the team was to attack and put Lars Boom and Rabobank under as much pressure as possible. Tactically we wanted to ride with a high tempo again.

"We just tried to go as fast and hard as possible at Caerphilly hill. I went quite deep at the foot of the climb when Steve went to test Lars. Unfortunately he stayed with me and it was a bit of cat and mouse all the way up the hill.

"The run-in at the finish had a tight corner with 200 metres to go. I don't have the kick of a Hushovd or Boom so I tried to get into that final corner first to get a bit of an advantage and momentum.

"Unfortunately, Thor just sneaked ahead and took the racing line. It was nothing illegal, just racing, but I lost my speed and that was race over."

Stage Four, Welshpool to Caerphilly

1) Thor Hushovd (NOR/Garmin Cervelo) 4h 32m 22s

2) Lars Boom (NED/Rabobank) same time

3) Cesare Benedetti (ITA/NetApp) same time

4) Ian Bibby (GBR/Motorpoint) same time

5) Boy Van Poppel (NED/UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling) same time

Overall General Classification:

1) Lars Boom (NED/Rabobank) 12h 36m 51s

2) Geraint Thomas (GB, Sky Procyling) +12s

3) Boy Van Poppel (NED/UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling) + 14s

4) Ian Bibby (GBR/Motorpoint) + 19s

5) Linus Gerdemann (GER/Leopard Trek) same time

TOUR OF BRITAIN STAGES

Stage one: Peebles-Dumfries, 11 September

Stage two: Kendal-Blackpool, cancelled, 12 September

Stage three: Stoke, 13 September

Stage four: Welshpool-Caerphilly, 14 September

Stage five: Exeter-Exmouth, 15 September

Stage six: Taunton-Wells, 16 September

Stage seven: Bury St Edmunds-Sandringham, 17 September

Stage eight: London, 18 September