2016 Tour of Britain Stage 8 Results & Recap
Stage 8 of the 2016 Tour of Britain is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Caleb Ewan (Orica-BikeExchange) took the win in a frenetic bunch sprint on the final stage of the Tour of Britain in London.
The Australian bolted out of the right side of the peloton as it caught late attacker Jens Debusschere (Lotto Soudal) and won by a clean set of wheels over Dutch champion Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNl-Jumbo). Debusschere held on for third.
"The last lap, even before the last kilometer was always going to be really sketchy," Ewan explained. {What people might not know is there are lead-outs into the corners, and that made every corner a full sprint. That whole last lap was really scary.
"Lotto in the end tried to mix it up a bit. I'm not sure why Greipel's not sprinting so much in this race. I didn't expect that, I thought he was going to go for the win. They let Debusschere go up the road, and luckily we caught him on the line."
It was Orica-BikeExchange's only stage win of the race, and the team was determined to deliver Ewan to the victory.
"Before the stage, we hadn't won a stage the whole race so this was our last chance. We put it all on the line. The guys who came from the Olympics on the track were struggling a bit on the long road stages, but maybe a shorter road stage like this would suit them more. They did a fantastic job to get me to the front.
"I'm happy I'm coming up well for the second part of the season."
Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data) finished off a fine week of racing to take home the overall victory.
"I'm elated," Cummings said of the victory. "Finally I can smile and enjoy it. It's been a tough week, and it was so close it was never done until I crossed the line. I'd like to thank all of my teammates for doing such a good job all week, keeping me out of trouble and sacrificing their own chances. It's been a great week."
The peloton quickly clicked off the 99.2km that stood between them and the finish line of the Tour of Britain in London, with Thomas Stewart (Madison Genesis), Gabriel Cullaigh (Great Britain), Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing Team), Jasper Bovenhuis (An Post-Chainreaction) the rabbits for the day being chased through the streets of the city.
Bovenhuis sealed the overall sprint classification thanks to his efforts, but the peloton was keeping the quartet on a short leash, and midway through the stage they had only managed around a minute's advantage.
The Belgian was distanced before the final sprint with 25k to go, leaving three men fighting an unwinnable battle against the peloton. LottoNl-Jumbo and Dimension Data quickly closed the gap down as the kilometers clicked down to the single digits.
The catch was finally made on the penultimate lap, and despite a few futile attacks, the bunch sprint was inevitable. Skky led into the final 3km for Ben Swift, with Etixx-Quickstep for Richeze and LottoNl-Jumbo leading out for Groenewegen close behind.
Greipel was well positioned with two men at the front, but Lotto Soudal had one trick up its sleeve - they sat up behind Debusschere in a turn and let the former Belgian champion open up a gap, which he seized wholeheartedly.
It looked as if Debusschere might take the win, but a surge from the peloton reeled him back to within striking distance at the line, and Ewan capitalized on the catch to dash around on the outside and steal the victory.\n
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