British winners on Tour of Britain final day

Cavendish wins the final stage of the Tour of Britain ©Tour of Britain

Sep 19th, 11. They could not stop Dutch rider Lars Boom winning the overall tour titile, but three Brits enjoyed success in London's double stage finale of the Tour of Britain.

Both the time trial and circuit race were held on the same central London course which started at Whitehall, took the riders past Trafalgar Square, the Tower of London, along the Thames, over the Westminster bridge, past Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament before finishing back at Whitehall.

Despite the wet weather, the crowds were fantastic all the way along the famous route.

Alex Dowsett, England, TT victory

First off was a 8.8km time trial and it was British time trial champion Alex Dowsett (Team Sky) who reigned supreme in front of a very supportive crowd.

"It's amazing; it's one of those things I would hopefully tell my children in years to come. It's going to take a while to sink in. London has been pretty kind to me, it's amazing," Dowsett said after winning by 5sec over tour leader Boom (Rabobank).

It was his first race in the British Champion's skinsuit.

Mark Cavendish, Isle of Man, Circuit race victory

The afternoon's 10 lap circuit race was far more than a final parade route. Boom had a healthy but not insurmountable lead in the gold leader's jersey, but the points jersey competition was still very much alive, and the honour of winning a stage in London was a big motivator for many.

Rabobank took control of the peloton to protect their leader as Team Sky kept an eye on any opportunities to attack. In the end it came down to a bunch sprint and it was HTC Highroad in charge of the proceedings.

Bernard Eisel, then Mark Renshaw put Mark Cavendish in position to sprint for victory and the Manxman delivered by crossing the line in first place, but it was not an easy victory.

Geraint Thomas, Wales, Points victory

Robert Forster (United HealthCare) rounded out the stage podium, but Geraint Thomas' 4th place was enough to give the Welshman the victory in the Points Classification. His team, Team Sky, also won the Teams' Classification and his English teammate Steve Cummings finished 2nd overall.

"We wanted to win the race and crashing on Stage 6 didn't help, and with Lars (Boom) sprinting so well we were always up against it," explained Thomas.

"We thought that after a 5th this morning, I moved ahead of Cavendish so we thought we may as well go for it and try and get on the podium. Fortunately we did and the lads did a great job. (Ben) Swift took me to the line. I had to get 5th if Cav won and fortunately I got 4th."

Lars Boom, Netherlands, took the top prize

Rabobank's Boom finished safely 5sec behind the stage winners to secure his tour victory.

"It was awesome. London is a very nice city. It's a lovely country, I didn't expect that. The public was awesome, a lot of cheering so it was a great week for us," said the victory whose only disappointment was not winning the time trial stage.

"Our team was very good this week, I was confident with them behind me so there was no problem. It's different riding with six guys in the team. You see that HTC – Highroad are a bit less strong than normally maybe. We had a really good team with the guys who were here and I was feeling confident every day."

Rabobank had one success and one big disappointment today; Robert Gesink broke his leg in a training ride.

Other Tour of Britain jersey winners

• Jonathan Tierman Locke, Rapha Condor Sharp, King of the Mountains Jersey
• Pieter Ghyllebert, AN Post – Sean Kelly, Sprints Jersey
• Jelle Wallays, Top Sport Vlaanderen, Best Young Rider

Kiwis ready for Worlds

Jack Bauer (Endura Racing) and Julian Dean (Garmin Cervelo) had a strong tour ahead of the UCI Road World Championships later in the week. Bauer was in a long breakaway earlier in the tour while Dean delivered the current World Champion to a stage victory. Both delivered a Top 10 result in Stage 6's sprint finish.

Full Tour of Britain results...