Britain: Ewan claims finale as Cummings nabs overall title
Steve Cummings wraps up the GC victory at the Tour of Britain, while Caleb Ewan powers to the stage 8 win in London
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Caleb Ewan (Orica – BikeExchange) won stage 8 of the Tour of Britain Sunday, crossing the line ahead of Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL – Jumbo) and Jens Debusschere (Lotto – Soudal) in a hectic finale in London.
Dimension Data’s Steve Cummings, who rode into the race lead in the climber-friendly sixth stage, finished safely in the bunch to seal the overall victory.
Top 10, stage 8
- 1. Caleb EWAN, in 2:09:24
- 2. Dylan GROENEWEGEN, at :00
- 3. Jens DEBUSSCHERE, at :00
- 4. Boy VAN POPPEL, at :00
- 5. Elia VIVIANI, at :00
- 6. André GREIPEL, at :00
- 7. Daniel MCLAY, at :00
- 8. Steele VON HOFF, at :00
- 9. Nicola RUFFONI, at :00
- 10. Paolo SIMION, at :00
Top 10 overall
- 1. Stephen CUMMINGS, TEAM DIMENSION DATA, in 31:30:45
- 2. Rohan DENNIS, BMC RACING TEAM, at :26
- 3. Tom DUMOULIN, TEAM GIANT – ALPECIN, at :38
- 4. Tony GALLOPIN, LOTTO SOUDAL, at 1:02
- 5. Dylan VAN BAARLE, CANNONDALE-DRAPAC PRO CYCLING TEAM, at 1:21
- 6. Nicolas ROCHE, TEAM SKY, at 1:26
- 7. Xandro MEURISSE, WANTY – GROUPE GOBERT, at 1:48
- 8. Ben SWIFT, TEAM SKY, at 1:52
- 9. Julien VERMOTE, ETIXX – QUICK STEP, at 2:12
- 10. Jacopo MOSCA, TREK – SEGAFREDO, at 2:32
A flat parcours had the sprinters’ on alert all afternoon, hoping to keep things under control for a bunch kick. Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing), Tom Stewart (Madison – Genesis), Gabriel Cullaigh (Great Britain), Jasper Bovenhuis (An Post – ChainReaction) jumped clear to form the day’s main breakaway, but the pack kept them on a short leash. Bovenhuis fell off the pace with around 30km to go, making the work up front even harder. The break group began to splinter under the pressure, with the peloton soon sweeping up Cullagh, and then Phinney, and finally Stewart inside the final 10km.
After a brief attack by Caja Rural’s Jose Goncalves was quickly reeled in, everything looked set for a bunch sprint. Lotto – Soudal took to the head of the race, seemingly to position for a bunch sprint, but Debusschere jumped off the front 500 meters from the line in an attempt to pre-empt a mass gallop. He nearly held out to the finish, but a surging pack just closed him down moments before he reached the line. Ewan emerged as the clear winner of the sprint ahead of Groenewegen, with Debuscherre taking home third place as a consolation prize.
Cummings was not far behind the sprinters, crossing the line in 17th place and on the same time as Ewan to wrap up the overall title ahead of BMC’s Rohan Dennis and Giant – Alpecin’s Tom Dumoulin.