For the second year in a row, Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) won the stage of the Tour of Britain into Guildford. The reigning British road racing champion managed to hold on and squeezed out Elia Viviani (Cannondale) and Gerald Ciolek (MTN-Qhubeka) on the slightly uphill run-in to the line.

For Cavendish today's win marks his second triumph of this year's race, while overnight race leader, Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) enjoyed a rather trouble-free day in the saddle to retain is lead with one stage in the race remaining.

At some point it looked as if the OPQS lead-out train had got it wrong as Cavendish was left with only Alessandro Petacchi for company as the bunch came under the red kite. However, the Italian veteran opened the throttle and briefly caused panic in the bunch when he created a small split that Cavendish's rivals were forced to chase.

Entering the final 400 metres, Cavendish opened up his sprint. Towards the end of the stage it seemed as if the Manx Man was running out of gas as Viviani was rapidly closing in, but in the end it was the Italian sprinter who would run out of steam, allowing Cavendish to hold on for victory.

"I just miss-timed it a little. I saw Elia so I tried to move him across to the rough part of the road and then as he came I had to go again. I’m lucky I can dot that with a second kick. The guys worked out of their skins. I’m so lucky to hold on there. The second kick comes from my track background," Cavendish said at the finish as he talked to British tv.

A four-man escape consisting of Lucas Euser (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team), Kristian House (Rapha Condor), Christophe Laborie (Sojasun) and Peter Williams (Team IG-Sigma Sport) played a major role in today’s stage. The break broke clear early on and established a lead of over three minutes. However, with Cavendish in form, and Sky willing to help control the field as well and Cannondale doing their part of the job to allow Viviani a shot at glory, the foursome were never allowed a foothold in the stage.

House picked up enough points to secure second overall in the king of the mountains competition and Williams dragged himself into the points ranking but when Cannondale joined the chase in the second half of the race the gap began to crumble.

As the riders approached Guildfold the break's slender lead had dropped to less than a minute, and despite a couple of late attacks, QuickStep and Cannonale would not be denied their sprint finish.

Meanwhile Wiggins finished safely in the peleton to retain his overall lead ahead of the final stage, a ten-lap circuit around the streets of London.

Tour of Britain stage 7 result:
1 Mark Cavendish - Omega Pharma-Quick Step 3.46.57
2 Elia Viviani - Cannondale Pro Cycling 
3 Gerald Ciolek - MTN-Qhubeka 
4 Blaz Jarc - Team NetApp-Endura 
5 Jacob Rathe - Garmin-Sharp 
6 Matteo Pelucchi - IAM Cycling 
7 Chris Opie - Team UK Youth 
8 Martin Elmiger - IAM Cycling 
9 Alessandro Bazzana - UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team 
10 Sam Bennett - An Post-Chainreaction  

General classification:
1 Bradley Wiggins - Team Sky