LONDON (Dispatches) -
Belgium’s Wout van Aert won the final stage of the Tour of Britain to pip Great Britain’s Ethan Hayter to overall victory in the race.
Van Aert produced a late surge in a bunched sprint to narrowly and dramatically win stage eight, which was 173km from Stonehaven to Aberdeen.
Germany’s Andre Greipel was second, with Briton Mark Cavendish third.
Van Aert’s bonus 10 seconds for winning the stage meant he beat Hayter by six seconds overall.
The peloton reeled in a six-man breakaway on the final stage with four kilometres left before the sprint finish, when Hayter found himself out of position to challenge Van Aert.
The Belgian’s four stage wins was the joint-highest in the modern incarnation of the race and he also became the sixth rider to have won stages in England, Scotland and Wales.