The final weekend: a look back

The peloton on Regent Street, London (SweetSpot) — The peloton race up Regent Street, London (SweetSpot)

André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) and Elia Viviani (Team Sky) shared the spoils on the final weekend of the 2015 Tour of Britain. Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN-Qhubeka) successfully defended his yellow jersey to take his second overall win at the race – the first man to win two editions of the modern race.

Fakenham – Ipswich

The East Anglia stage saw Greipel take his sixteenth win of the season, his first at the Tour of Britain, in a photo finish. The German started his sprint early, holding off a resurgent Elia Viviani to just shade it on the line.

Earlier in the day the Brit trio of Alex Dowsett (Movistar), Gabriel Cullaigh (Great Britain) and Graham Briggs (JLT-Condor) were in the break, though with such a flat stage on the menu they were never going to make it to finish.

Greipel shades it in Fakenham (SweetSpot)

The trio were duly caught thanks mainly to the work of Lotto-Soudal, while a late bid for glory from Zdeněk Štybar also proved fruitless as the Belgian squad were determined to deliver the Gorilla to the win.

	stage result
1	André Greipel (Ger) Lotto – Soudal	5:14:42
2	Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky
3	Sondre Holst Enger (Nor) IAM Cycling
4	Mark Renshaw (Aus) Etixx – Quick Step
5	Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN – Qhubeka
6	Owain Doull (GBr) Team WIGGINS
7	Rasmus Guldhammer Pedersen (Den) Cult Energy Pro Cycling
8	Jonas Van Genechten (Bel) IAM Cycling
9	Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Cannondale – Garmin
10	Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto – Soudal

London

Elia Viviani triumphed on the final stage of the race, though he had to wait for race judges to confirm his win after Greipel, the first man over the line, was relegated due to irregular sprinting.

The big German moved across Viviani’s path as he stormed past, a move which saw the Sky rider protest and meant that Greipel would end up in 39th on the day.

“I had good speed in the legs after this really hard week,” said Viviani. “The guys have done amazing work for Wout [Poels] and myself this week. I’m disappointed because it would’ve been better to win without this, but we won in London and that’s the main thing.”

Greipel leads the peloton home in London (SweetSpot)

For the most part, the circuit race around Central London was a victory parade for Boasson Hagen, though the day did see Owain Doull move up onto the final podium thanks to bonus seconds claimed at the intermediate sprint.

It capped a strong race for the 22-year-old Welshman, who also took home the points jersey. One Pro Cycling, who are looking to move up to the ProContinental level for 2016, took the mountains and sprints jerseys thanks to a strong performance from Peter Williams.

The big plaudits, however, go to Boasson Hagen, who outperformed everybody’s expectations to take the overall win. His surprise performance on the summit finish of Hartside Fell will be seen as the defining moment of his second Tour of Britain victory.

	stage result
1	Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky	1:50:16
2	Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Esp) Movistar Team
3	Matteo Trentin (Ita) Etixx – Quick Step
4	Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN – Qhubeka
5	Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto – Soudal
6	Sondre Holst Enger (Nor) IAM Cycling
7	Mark Renshaw (Aus) Etixx – Quick Step
8	Graham Briggs (GBr) JLT Condor
9	Ruben Zepuntke (Ger) Team Cannondale – Garmin
10	Owain Doull (GBr) Team WIGGINS

	general classification
1	Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN – Qhubeka	34:52:52
2	Wouter Poels (Ned) Team Sky	0:00:13
3	Owain Doull (GBr) Team WIGGINS	0:00:42
4	Rasmus Guldhammer Pedersen (Den) Cult Energy Pro Cycling	0:00:43
5	Zdenek _tybar (Cze) Etixx – Quick Step	0:00:51
6	Rubén Fernandez Andujar (Esp) Movistar Team
7	Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
8	Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Cannondale – Garmin	0:00:53
9	Chris Anker Sørensen (Den) Tinkoff – Saxo	0:00:59
10	Xandro Meurisse (Bel) An Post – Chainreaction	0:01:02