Cycling photography from the London stage of the Tour of Britain 2016
Steve Cummings of Dimension Data pictured below in the race leader's yellow jersey became only the second British rider to win the modern Tour of Britain as Caleb Ewan (Orica-BikeExchange) won the final stage in London. Cummings finished in the peloton to successfully defend his 26 second lead, as expected, over BMC Racing’s Rohan Dennis, with Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) finishing third overall
The victory – Cummings’ first stage race win since the 2014 Tour Mediterraneen – caps a great year for the 35-year-old Merseysider, who has also won stages at four WorldTour races, including the Tour de France
Up West
The Yellow Jersey
The breakaway is away
The breakaway went from the off and had a 30-second lead by the end of the second lap which they held for most of the race. Dimension Data marshalled the peloton while the four-man break of Jasper Bovenhuis (An Post-Chain Reaction), Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing), Tom Stewart (Madison-Genesis) and Gabriel Cullaigh (Great Britain) swept up the intermediate sprints points and delivering the Tour of Britain points jersey to Jasper Bovenhuis in the process
Jasper Bovenhuis hiding in plain sight
There's no one quite like Ian Stannard
Dimension Data Dominate
Dimension Data's dominance of the final stage ensured Steve Cummings victory but did little to help the teams overall seasons performance in World Tour terms. Team principal Doug Ryder said it would be “horrific” if the squad lost its UCI World Tour licence next season, due to not collecting enough points in the World Tour ranking system during the year. Quite how you can win four stages of the Tour de France and not have enough points is beyond me
With 18 teams vying for the 17 spots in next year’s World Tour, the future of the South African team – home to Mark Cavendish and Steve Cummings – is in doubt, as it currently sits bottom of the World Tour team ranking. You couldn't tell any of this from Sundays team performance as Dimension Data looked every inch the World Tour team there are and hopefully will be again next year
Madison Genesis were at it again, out in the break all day but the peloton never allowed them more than a few minutes grace. The penultimate lap triggered a significant increase in the pace back in the peloton and the gap closed extremely quickly as the sprinter's teams took charge of affairs
London Fans
If anyone is still in any doubt that cycling is now super cool in the UK - take a look at some of the fans lining the streets of London this weekend. Now get yourself down to your nearest cycle store and get yourself some of the latest gear, then you too can look like these guys. Assuming you'd want to of course.
The crowds built up significantly during the day and by the final couple of laps places where a good view could be had were few and far between.
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