Belgium’s Wout van Aert won the final stage of the Tour of Britain to pip Great Britain’s Ethan Hayter to overall victory in the race.
Van Aert produced a late surge in a bunched sprint to narrowly and dramatically win stage eight, which was 173km from Stonehaven to Aberdeen.
Germany’s Andre Greipel was second, with Briton Mark Cavendish third.
Van Aert’s bonus 10 seconds for winning the stage meant he beat Hayter by six seconds overall.
“A bit disappointed to lose on the last day,” Hayter told ITV4. “But I can be very happy with this week with winning the team time trial, the stage in Manchester and second overall is pretty good.
“He (Van Aert) has won four stages so, fair enough, he wins the general classification to be honest.”
The peloton reeled in a six-man breakaway on the final stage with four kilometres left before the sprint finish, when Hayter found himself out of position to challenge Van Aert.
The Belgian’s four stage wins was the joint-highest in the modern incarnation of the race and he also became the sixth rider to have won stages in England, Scotland and Wales.
“I needed all of my guys to close the gap with the breakaway,” said Van Aert. “After their impressive work, it was a pleasure to finish it off.
“Taking all these wins is beyond expectations. We had a really nice week.”
Stage eight results
1. Wout van Aert (Bel/Jumbo-Visma) 4hrs 7mins 56secs
2. Andre Greipel (Ger/Israel Start-up Nation) Same time
3. Mark Cavendish (GB/Deceuninck-QuickStep) Same time
4. Colin Joyce (US/Rally Cycling) Same time
5. Max Kanter (Ger/Team DSM) Same time
6. Rory Townsend (Ire/Canyon) Same time
7. Matt Gibson (GB/Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling) Same time
8. Oliver Peckover (GB/SwiftCarbon Pro Cycling) Same time
General classification
1. Wout van Aert (Bel/Jumbo-Visma) 31hrs 42mins 22secs
2. Ethan Hayter (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) +6 secs
3. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra/Deceuninck-QuickStep) +27secs
4. Mikkel Honore (Den/Deceuninck-QuickStep) +41 secs
5. Michael Woods (Can/Israel Start-up Nation) +1 min
6. Rohan Dennis (Aus/Ineos Grenadiers) + 1min 14secs
7. Daniel Martin (Ire/Israel Start-up Nation) +1min 16secs
8. Kristian Sbaragli (Ita/Alpecin-Fenix) +1min 43secs
9. Mark Donovan (GB/Team DSM) +2mins 4 secs
10. Carlos Rodriguez Cano (Spa/Ineos Grenadiers) +2mins 7secs
