The final stage of the Aviva Tour of Britain was a 14-lap circuit race around downtown London. The 6.2-kilometer course was high-paced from the start all the way to the finish with riders averaging nearly 50kph.

Throughout the day, several riders attempted to form a breakaway, including Team Novo Nordisk’s Charles Planet, but none of the attempts gained more than a few seconds. The short course had a dozen turns, many being U-turns, making for a very technical race. Heading into the second to last lap, the peloton split with Team Novo Nordisk’s David Lozano and Andrea Peron making the front group. The duo stayed together but were unable to move up on the final lap. Elia Viviani (Team Sky) won in a contested sprint finish. Planet halfway through the race but did not experience any major injuries.

“I think this might be the hardest race of the season,” Peron said. “By the end of the week, you’ve raced so many kilometers on small roads. There was never a day where you could recover. Today was really hard on the legs because of all of the turns. It was all about position and then powering out of the corners.”

Elia Viviani (Team Sky) won ahead of Juan Jose Lobato (Movistar Team) and Matteo Trentin (Etixx-Quick Step). Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN-Qhubeka) took the overall race win.

Team Novo Nordisk returns to racing on Wednesday at Coppa Agostoni – Giro delle Brianze, a one-day Italian race. The 198.2-km race begins in Monza and includes three hilly 24.5 km circuits around Lissolo before finishing in Lissone