Edvald Boasson Hagen (Columbia HTC) won the overall of the Tour of Britain against Garmin's Chris Sutton, who moved up to second place, thanks to his time bonuses in the final stage, a circuit race in London. Michele Merlo (Barloworld) took the day's victory ahead of Koldo Fernández (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Sutton.
Sutton also finished second in two of the three intermediate sprints. Unfortunately for the Australian, Boasson Hagen won one of them. Sutton finished the overall 23 seconds behind the Norwegian. German champion Martin Reimer (Cervélo TestTeam) stayed in third, 25 seconds back.
Boasson Hagen praised his Columbia squad for the win. "It's really good to win this race after all the hard work by the team. I'm really happy for me and for them," he said. "This is my second stage race win this year. I didn't expect to win four stages and so it's been a fantastic week. It was amazing to win in the center of London because there were huge crowds."
Sutton was equally happy with second. "It was a great week for me and I really can't complain about a thing - getting second overall is fantastic."
Boasson Hagen also took the points classification - tied with Sutton (86) - thanks to his four consecutive stage victories. Thomas De Gendt (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) took the sprints and the mountains ranking and was also named the most aggressive rider of the final stage.
Rabobank took out the teams classification, nine seconds ahead of the Cervélo TestTeam.
The final stage was a scenic tour through London on a 9.2km long circuit to be raced for ten times. The race started near 10 Downing Street, went past Tower Bridge and moved over the River Thames via Westminster Bridge. The big finishing bang was Big Ben.
The riders had no eyes for the sights, though, as they moved along quickly, with an average speed of 47.470 km/h.
Results - Stage 8, London-Westminster, 92.5km
1. Michele Merlo (Ita) Barloworld 1h56'55 (47.470 km/h)
2. Koldo Fernández (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi st
3. Chris Sutton (Aus) Garmin-Slipstream
4. Pierpaolo De Negri (Ita) ISD-Neri
5. Robert Hayles (GBr) Team Halfords
Final GC
1. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Columbia-Highroad 28h06'24
2. Chris Sutton (Aus) Garmin-Slipstream 0'23
3. Martin Reimer (Ger) Cervélo TestTeam 0'25
4. Kai Reus (Ned) Rabobank 0'26
5. Russell Downing (GBr) Candi-TV-Marshalls Pasta 0'39
6. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Barloworld 0'43
7. Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Agritubel st
8. Simon Clarke (Aus) Amica Chips-Knauf 0'47
9. Reinier Honig (Ned) Vacansoleil 0'49
10. Kristian House (GBr) Rapha Condor st