Romain Feillu won the fourth edition of the Tour of Britain at the weekend by half a second. So close was the race that the organisers had to use the riders times from the Prologue to decide who should claim the yellow jersey, a mere 0.49 seconds separating the French rider from Adrian Palomares Vilaplana.
The final stage of the Tour of Britain, from Dumfries to Glasgow, was won by Brit Paul Manning, from a five-man breakaway, finishing three minutes ahead of a bunch led by Mark Cavendish.
“My T-Mobile team-mates were fantastic, I don't think I've ever seen them work so hard for me,” said Cavendish after stepping of the podium. “ I was incredibly tired after spending yesterday in a two-man break but my team protected me and made the stage easier than it should have been. Overall, my form this week hasn't been great but racing on home-soil has given me the motivation to overcome that.”
Despite hopes for the overall after winning the Prologue around the Crystal Palace circuit a little over a week ago, the Manx rider walked away from the race with both the Points and Sprint jersey - not a bad haul at all, but some consolation following the bright start to the race. Fellow Brit Ben Swift of Team Barloworld completed a hat-trick or jerseys by winning the King of the Mountains classification, with Paul Manning finishing second.
Final general classification
1 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel 21.21.33
2 Adrian Palomares Vilaplana (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias
3 Luke Roberts (Aus) Team CSC 0.06
4 Martin Garrido (Arg) Duja Tavira 0.12
5 Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil-Shimano 0.13
6 Simon Clarke (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 0.17
7 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Skil-Shimano
8 Gene Bates (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 0.18
9 David Munoz Banon (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 0.21
10 David Blanco (Spa) Duja Tavira 0.24
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