Mark Cavendish wins the final stage of the Tour of Britain 2012
Mark Cavendish of Team Sky Procycling continued his tremendous form and secured the final stage of the Tour of Britain in front of the home crowd.
This was his third stage victory at the British race after he dominated the third, fourth and the eighth stages of the event.
The cyclist completed the final chase to Guilford in a total time of 3 hours, 33 minutes and 5 seconds and restricted his major opponents.
Boy Van Poppel of Team UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Fabio Sabatini of Team Liquigas-Cannondale, Russell Downing of Team Endura Racing and Cesare Benedetti of Team NetApp achieved the next four positions in the respective order.
Mark is riding the Tour of Britain to fine tune ahead of the UCI Road World Championships, a race he won in the past season.
The cyclist was delighted after hitting the right form just ahead of the Worlds and noted that victory at the final stage of the race really boosted his confidence especially after a disappointing Olympics.
"I really wanted to win here in Guilford,” the Manxman briefed after the race.
“I haven't obviously got great memories of the results here from the Olympics but I've got great memories of the crowds here from the Olympics so I wanted to win here on the last stage in Guilford".
"It wasn't an easy finish. It wasn't just the last stage in the Tour of Britain; it was the last race for me in the rainbow jersey”.
“The teams were incredible, they supported me the whole day; the guys stayed in control and they gave it everything they had - so proud of them”.
Simon Richardson of Team Sigma Sport wins the first, the second and the third mountain of the race while Leopold Koenig of Team NetApp winning the final climb of the event.
Peter Williams of Team Node4-Giordana claimed the first, the second and the third sprints of the race and bagged 15 important points whereas; the most combative rider for the final stage was given to Simon Richardson of Team Sigma Sport.
British cyclist Jonathan Tiernan-Locke of Team Endura Racing secured an overall victory after he finished 18 seconds ahead of Nathan Haas.
Jonathan became the first British cyclist to bag an overall victory at the home event and thanked his team-mates for their continuous support throughout the race.
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