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Cav sprints to London win

credit: Andy Whitehouse
Image: Cavendish: Took a second consecutive sprint victory in London (photo: Andy Whitehouse)

Mark Cavendish sprinted to victory on the streets of London as the Tour of Britain came to a close.

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Boom takes comfortable overall victory

Mark Cavendish sprinted to victory on the streets of London as the Tour of Britain came to a close. The Manxman led home HTC-Highroad team-mate Mark Renshaw in the third one-two finish for the duo and the second win for Cavendish during the race. The victory was enough for the Brit to sew up the points jersey at his home race and final event before heading to Copenhagen for the world championships. Finishing safely in the pack was Lars Boom (Rabobank) who maintained a 36-second lead at the top of the standings to clinch the race win and the gold jersey. Steve Cummings took a comfortable second place for Team Sky after his exploits in the earlier time trial had seen him rise three places on the leaderboard, Jan Barta (NetApp) taking an impressive third. A bunch sprint always looked likely as the race came to a head over 10 laps of a London city centre circuit with the peloton chasing down a plucky pair of escapees.

London calling

There were attacks from the flag as the final stage kicked off in Whitehall with Ronan McLaughlin (An-Post) jumping clear and Kristian House (Rapha Condor Sharp) bridging across. The gap to the duo spun out to 25 seconds after three laps as Rabobank and HTC-Highroad manned the front of the bunch as the race flashed past the likes of Big Ben, Downing Street and Trafalgar Square. Rain began to fall as the riders entered the final two laps with the margin dropping steadily making a bunch sprint all the more likely. Heading into the bell lap the break began to attack one another with House proving strongest, 17 seconds up as he made a bid for freedom before finally being swept up at the far side of the course. That left Cavendish free to secure what could be his final victory in HTC colours with the squad disbanding at the end of the season.

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