Gallery: Race photo highlights from the 2014 Tour of California

Eight days of thrilling racing came to an end on Sunday with the 2014 Tour of California finishing up in Thousand Oaks. The 2012 Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) came away with the overall honours after building his campaign on a winning ride in the individual time trial and then fending off challenges in the mountains.

The race was about way more than just one man and one team though with Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma QuickStep), Peter Sagan (Cannodale) carving up the sprint stages. There were breakthrough wins too with Esteban Chaves (Orica Greenedge) and Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp) both claiming impressive mountain stages.

And the domestic teams played their part, too: constantly on the attack and making the race at critical stages, Will Routley (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) came away with a memorable stage win on stage 4 and the king of the mountains competition.

In the battle for the best young rider's  white jersey, Lawson Craddock (Giant-Shimano) held off the challenge from Adam Yates (Orica GreenEdge).

Take a look back through the race with this stunning gallery.

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