Reports

Tour of Britain 2016: Steve Cummings seals overall victory as Caleb Ewan wins in London

Dimension Data man becomes just second British Tour of Britain winner after Bradley Wiggins

Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) became only the second British rider to win the modern Tour of Britain as Caleb Ewan (Orica-BikeExchange) won the final stage in London.

Cummings finished in the peloton to successfully defend his 26-lead, as expected, over BMC Racing’s Rohan Dennis, with Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) finishing third overall.

The victory – Cummings’ first stage race win since the 2014 Tour Mediterraneen – caps a great year for the 35-year-old Merseysider, who has also won stages at four WorldTour races, including the Tour de France.

And after team-mate Edvald Boasson Hagen won the Tour of Britain in 2015, Dimension Data have now won back-to-back editions of the Tour of Britain as a result.

Dimension Data’s Steve Cummings won the 2016 Tour of Britain, becoming only the second British rider to do so in the race’s modern incarnation (pic: Sweetspot)

Though Dennis had attacked on the Bristol circuit on stage seven, eating into Cummings’ advantage overall, the Australian had already conceded a repeat performance would be difficult on the London circuit.

And so it proved as Dimension Data marshalled the peloton while a four-man break of Jasper Bovenhuis (An Post-Chain Reaction), Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing), Tom Stewart (Madison-Genesis) and Gabriel Cullaigh (Great Britain) swept up the intermediate sprints.

His day in the break ensured Bovenhuis sealed victory in the intermediate sprint classification, but the four-man move never looked like threatening the sprinters with a maximum advantage of just 45 seconds.

Phinney and Stewart both tried to go it alone off the front, but both were swept up – as was Movistar’s Alex Dowsett after his own late attack.

With the peloton back together, the sprint trains came together at the front but Lotto-Soudal sprung a surprise when Jens Debusschere attacked off the nose.

His lone escape – with Lotto-Soudal having been expected to tee up Andre Greipel – briefly caught the peloton unaware, but his attack came up just short.

Caleb Ewan won the final stage, outsprinting Dylan Groenewegen (pic: Sweetspot)

It left Ewan to open up his sprint early, sweeping past the Belgian and comfortably beating second-placed Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) to claim victory by a few bike lengths.

Back in the peloton, Cummings stayed safely in the front group to seal his overall victory – the first British rider since Sir Bradley Wiggins in 2013 to win the Tour of Britain.

Tour of Britain 2016: stage eight – result

1) Caleb Ewan (AUS) – Orica-BikeExchange – 2.09.24hrs
2) Dylan Groenewegen (NED) – LottoNL-Jumbo – ST
3) Jens Debusschere (BEL) – Lotto-Soudal
4) Boy van Poppel (NED) – Trek-Segafredo
5) Elia Viviani (ITA) – Team Sky
6) Andre Greipel (GER) – Lotto-Soudal
7) Dan McLay (GBR) – Great Britain
8) Steele von Hoff (NZL) – ONE Pro Cycling
9) Nicola Ruffoni (ITA) – Bardiani-CSF
10) Paolo Simion (ITA) – Bardiani-CSF

General classification

1) Steve Cummings (GBR) – Dimension Data – 31.30.45hrs
2) Rohan Dennis (AUS) – BMC Racing +26”
3) Tom Dumoulin (NED) – Giant-Alpecin +38”
4) Tony Gallopin (FRA) – Lotto-Soudal +1.02
5) Dylan van Baarle (NED) – Cannondale-Drapac +1.21
6) Nicolas Roche (IRL) – Team Sky +1.26
7) Xandro Meurisse (BEL) – Wanty-Groupe Gobert +1.48
8) Ben Swift (GBR) – Team Sky +1.52
9) Julien Vermote (BEL) – Etixx-QuickStep +2.12
10) Jacopo Mosca (ITA) – Trek-Segafredo