Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) won the final stage of the Tour of Britain on the streets of London - his 10th triumph in total in his native country’s stage race - with Sam Bennett (An Post-Chainreaction) in second and Elia Viviani (Cannondale Pro Cycling) in third.

The reigning British road champion came through inside the last few hundred meters after another expertly timed leadout from his teammate Alessandro Petacchi. The Italian enjoyed the fruits of the workload delivered by Iljo Keisse to superbly guide Cavendish through the final corners before the Manx Man delivered yet another inch-perfect sprint to cross the line relatively untroubled.

Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) finished safely in the bunch and comfortably retained is overall lead to walk away with the overall honours. There was a change in the final general classification, however, as Jack Bauer (Garmin-Sharp) leapfrogged Sergio Pardilla into fifth, courtesy of vital sprint bonus seconds.

"At the most, it's just about relief," Wiggins said when talking to the TV-reporters at the finish. "It was only a 26-second lead so a crash outside of the final 3km... and all those little things. It was just a relief. From the moment I won the time trial, though, I thought I could win the GC, but it wasn't ever really over."

The final stage was characterized by a six-man move that escaped early in the 88km circuit race through the streets of London.

Angel Madrazo Ruiz (Movistar Team), Shane Archbold (An Post-Chainreaction), Peter Williams (Team IG-Sigma Sport), Jack Bauer (Garmin-Sharp), Andreas Schillinger (Team NetApp-Endura) and Sergio Pardilla (MTN-Qhubeka). However, the stage win was only part of the break's motivation to escape.

At the beginning of the day, Bauer had the opportunity to move up to fifth overall after starting the final stage just three seconds down on Pardilla. And there was an additional twist: Madrazo and Williams were locked in a tense battle for the sprints competition.

Bauer was triumphant in his attempt, gaining enough time to move into fifth but Williams was unable to take the lead in the sprints competition after commissars had adjudged the IG-Sigma Sport rider to have moved Madrazo with his hand in a tussle during one of the intermediate sprints. It meant that the Movistar rider carried home the jerseys in both the sprint and KOM competitions.

The break was reeled in inside the final 30 kilometres despite a latch ditch move from Schillinger and Archbold. The Kiwi was the last man to be caught and when Alex Dowsett (Movistar) saw his own assault being closed down, the peloton prepared itself for the sprint finish.

Tour of Britain stage 8:

1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 1:47:22  

2 Sam Bennett (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction    

3 Elia Viviani (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling    

4 Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) IAM Cycling    

5 Chris Opie (GBr) Team UK Youth    

6 Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) Sojasun    

7 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox    

8 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quick Step    

9 Enrique Sanz (Spa) Movistar Team    

10 Blaz Jarc (Slo) Team NetApp-Endura    

General classification:

1 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling