Steve Cummings clinched overall victory in the Tour of Britain at the end of the London stage, finishing safely within the bunch to seal the yellow jersey as Caleb Ewan sprinted to victory.

The Brit, who took the jersey after stage six in Devon, crossed the line on Regent Street St James in 17th position as the bunch fought out the victory at the end of the 16-lap circuit race.

"I'm delighted. Finally I can smile and enjoy it. It's been a tough week. It was so close that it wasn't done until I crossed the line," said Cummings afterwards.

"I'd to thank all my team-mates for keeping me out of trouble, and the British public for supporting every day like they have. It's been a great week.

"It's a bit overwhelming, I just want to but a baseball cap on and a hood up and disappear now for a while and get back out of the way.”

Cummings is the second British rider to win the modern incarnation of the Tour of Britain, following Sir Bradley Wiggins' victory in 2013.  Cummings also wins the Best British Rider prize.

Behind Cummings there was no change on the overall classification, with BMC Racing Team's Rohan Dennis second at 26-seconds and Team Giant Alpecin's Tom Dumoulin third a further 12-seconds in arrears.

Lotto Soudal's Tony Gallopin took fourth with 2014 Tour of Britain winner Dylan Van Baarle in fifth.  Team Sky's Ben Swift was the other Brit in the top 10, finishing eighth.

Orica BikeExchange's 22-year-old sprinter Caleb Ewan took his first win on British roads, becoming the ninth different stage winner of the week in a highly competitive Tour of Britain. Lotto Soudal's Jen Debusschere had taken a flyer coming through Trafalgar Square in the final kilometre and at one stage looked like holding his advantage to the line, but such was the speed of Ewan that the young Australian rocketed past, with Dylan Groenewegen also coming past for second.

Groenewegen's runner up spot, his fourth top ten of the week, helped him into the points jersey.

In the sprints classification An Post Chain Reaction's Jasper Bovenhuis took the jersey, joining the day's breakaway once again to mop up the jersey after the first of three intermediate sprints. Bovenhuis' final advantage was 12-points over Andre Greipel, but the German did win the overall combativity award in a week that saw him win a stage and on several occasions light up the Tour of Britain with his attacking riding.

With no King of the Mountains points on offer in London, Xandro Meurisse enjoyed a final day in the jersey, adding that classification win to his seventh place overall.

In Great Britain Cycling Team colours, Dan McLay was the best performer of the day, taking seventh place in that bunch finish. In the general classification, there was an excellent performance from Tao Geoghegan Hart to finish 14th, just under five and a half minutes off Steve Cummings' winning time.

Results

Stage eight results