Dutch cyclist Baarle wins Tour of Britain

LONDON: The Netherlands´ Dylan van Baarle won the Tour of Britain after retaining his overall race lead during Sunday´s concluding stages on London.

Van Baarle triumphed in an overall time of 32 hours, 22 minutes and 50 seconds, with Poland´s Michal Kwiatkowski 10 seconds adrift in second place and Britain´s Bradley Wiggins, the defending champion, 22 seconds behind the Dutch winner in third place.

Olympic champion Wiggins, the first British rider to win the Tour de France in 2013, won Sunday´s individual time-trial but, as he suspected, had left himself with too much to do in terms of defending his title.

Sunday´s second stage on the streets of central London was won in a blanket finish by Marcel Kittel as the German held off home favourite Mark Cavendish to enjoy fresh success on British soil this season. Kittel has won Giro d´Italia stages in Belfast and Dublin, Tour de France stages in Harrogate and London and Tour of Britain stages in Liverpool and London. But by finishing safely in the peloton Garmin-Sharp´s van Baarle, who started the day with a 19-second lead, made sure of the title. (AFP)