Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) was first over the line for the second time in two days at the Tour of Britain, but this time he wasn’t to be awarded the stage win.
Greipel seemed to deviate from his line in the sprint, pushing Elia Viviani (Team Sky) towards the barriers, allowing the German to sprint almost unchallenged to the line.
The race commissaires adjudged Greipel impeded Viviani and relegated him, leaving the Sky rider to take his third stage of the race.
MTN-Qhubeka’s Edvald Boasson Hagen sealed the overall title with a strong ride that saw him rarely fall further back than fifth position in the peloton, with the Norwegian fittingly finishing fifth on the stage.
An eight-man break, including defending champion Dylan Van Baarle (Cannondale-Garmin), made its move after the first intermediate sprint after lap three.
At that sprint, Owain Doull (Team Wiggins) secured himself enough bonus seconds to move himself above Rasmus Guldhammer (Cult Energy Pro) into third place overall by trailing Russ Downing (Cult) over the line in second.
Van Baarle took the second intermediate sprint, by which point Pete Williams (One Pro Cycling) had already wrapped up the sprints jersey to go with the mountains classification he won on Saturday.
The break were never allowed further than 20 seconds up the road on the 6.8km circuit, with the race building towards the inevitable sprint finish.
Danilo Wyss, one of BMC’s two remaining riders, was the final breakaway member to be mopped up on the 13th lap as Team Sky worked hard on the front for Elia Viviani.
Sir Bradley Wiggins took a huge turn on the front in the closing kilometres of the race to try and bring Doull to the line as the WorldTour sprint trains jockeyed for position.
Lotto-Soudal led under the flamme rouge, signifying the final kilometre, as Sky and Boasson Hagen sat on their wheels.
Going round the final corner, Viviani tried to go up the inside on Greipel but the German seemed to deviate from his line to box Viviani in on the barriers.
The Italian wagged his finger behind Greipel as he crossed the line and the race jury agreed with his plight. Greipel was relegated from first place and everybody moved up a place.
Boasson Hagen’s overall win was his second at the Tour of Britain – his first coming in 2009. Doull edged out the Norwegian by one point for the blue points jersey to go along with his podium place in the general classification.
Tour of Britain, stage eight: London (86.8km)
1. Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky, 1-50-16
2. Juan Jose Lobato (Esp) Movistar
3. Matteo Trentin (Ita) Etixx-Quick Step
4. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN-Qhubeka
5. Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto-Soudal
6. Sondre Holst Enger (Nor) IAM Cycling
7. Mark Renshaw (Aus) Etixx-Quick Step
8. Graham Briggs (GBr) JLT Condor
9. Ruben Zepunkte (Ger) Cannondale-Garmin
10. Owain Doull (GBr) Team Wiggins, all same time
Final general classification
1. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN-Qhubeka, 34-52-52
2. Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky, at 13s
3. Owain Doull (GBr) Team Wiggins, at 42s
4. Rasmus Guldhammer (Den) Cult Energy Pro, at 43s
5. Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx-Quick Step,
6. Ruben Fernandez (Esp) Movistar,
7. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, all at 51s
8. Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Cannondale-Garmin, at 53s
9. Chris Anker Sorensen (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo, at 59s
10. Xandro Meurisse (Bel) An Post-Chain Reaction, at 1-02
