Lars Boom clinches second Tour of Britain title

Lars Boom clinched his second Tour of Britain title after Edvald Boasson Hagen won the final stage in Cardiff on Sunday.

The peloton split very early in the stage, as continual attacks from the front left 50 riders at the head of the race.

The foul weather made it very tough going as the peloton descended into Wales and made the roads increasingly slippery on the circuit laps of the capital.

A brave attempt to breakaway with 30 kilometres to go was made by Mark Stewart (An Post Chain Reaction) and Movistar’s Gorka Izagirre; the pair managed to maintain their small advantage over the field but were swept up in the penultimate city centre circuit.

Boasson Hagen took victory after jumping clear of the field with three kilometres to go and taking the tight corners at speed.

He was almost caught in the final straight but held on for the win, just days before heading to his home country of Norway, where he will start as one of the favourites in the men’s road race world championships.

Boasson Hagen was pleased that his tactics had paid off: “It is really nice to finish off with a stage win; it was cold and rainy the whole day, I was hoping to attack and it worked out really well!

“I had a plan before the start to try to go from around 2.5km – to take on those corners with the rain, I knew I would be hard to catch. I made it, it wasn’t by much but it worked out!”

Tour of Britain 2017 – stage 8 results (Worcester – Cardiff):

Final general classification: