Hello, and a belated welcome to our live coverage of stage 8 of the Tour of Britain, a circuit race around London.
We've had some technical issues but we're all ok now.
Taylor Phinny (EF-Drapac) and Connor Swift (Madison-Genesis) are up the road already.
Alex Paton (Canyon-Eisberg) leads the sprints classification with 13 points, so the team are working to catch Swift, who lies fifth with five points. He can take the red jersey if he wins today's trio of intermediate sprints.
Today's circuit is a flat 5.5km lap around central London, taking in Whitehall, The Strand, Piccadilly Circus and Regent Street.
There are 14 laps, with intermediate sprints coming on laps 4, 8 and 12.
66km remaining from 77km
Swift and Phinney have been brought back, while the attacks fly up front.
65km remaining from 77km
Max Stedman (Canyon-Eisberg) is trying to drag a group away from the peloton.
The big news today is that Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas has extended with Team Sky for three more years. Read the full story here.
By the way, here's the GC before today's stage. We're not expecting any changes on this flat circuit. It's one for the sprinters.
We're on lap 4 now, with the sprint coming up the next time over the line. Still no breakaway established.
If you're more into your mountains than sprints then we have Vuelta live coverage too, with yet another uphill finish on the menu today. It's stage 15 – Lagos de Covadonga day – and the peloton are 30km from the line.
Dmitry Strakhov (Katusha-Alpecin) took that sprint ahead of points jersey holder Patrick Bevin, while Matt Holmes (Madison-Genesis) picked up a single point for third.
That result leaves Holmes on ten points, three behind red jersey Paton.
52km remaining from 77km
And a four-man group including Chris Froome (Team Sky) and Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Énergie) have gone clear. Connor Swift (Madison-Genesis) is also there with a Madison-Genesis teammate.
Lotto-Soudal and Quick Step Floors are up on the front of the peloton as several more riders move across to the lead group.
49km remaining from 77km
Pascal Eenkhoorn, who has been busy this week, has made it across. Max Stedman (Canyon-Eisberg) is also there, and the unidentified Madison-Genesis rider is, of course, Matt Holmes.
Stedman will be running interference for Paton in the next sprint, which comes on lap 8. If Holmes wins that he'll be joint-leader with Paton, with whoever has the most first places in intermediate sprint taking the jersey.
44km remaining from 77km
Chavanel ran over a pothole and punctured, and the group has since been brought back.
Vasil Kiryienka (Team Sky) and Emīls Liepiņš (Canyon-Eisberg) have hopped off the front of the peloton.
The duo have a ten-second gap, and could get some slack from the peloton here.
Liepiņš won't be familiar to many of us, but the Latvian has had some strong sprints this week, finishing third in Bristol and leading the peloton home behind the break yesterday in Mansfield.
Last month the 25-year-old won the 2.2-ranked Baltic Chain Tour ahead of Ramūnas Navardauskas (Bahrain-Merida) and ex-Cofidis man Gert Jõeäär.
38km remaining from 77km
The break have a 22-second advantage over the peloton as they cross the line. They probably won't get much more slack than that.
34km remaining from 77km
Kiryienka is alone now, half a minute ahead of the peloton. The second intermediate sprint of the day is up soon.
Madison-Genesis are on the front of the peloton. Blue jersey Bevin, looking for bonus seconds, and red jersey Paton, looking for points, are up there too.
31km remaining from 77km
Bevin takes second and two more bonus seconds, while a LottoNL-Jumbo rider finished third.
The result means that Bevin has picked up five bonus seconds today. He was 13 behind third-placed man Primož Roglič (LottoNL-Jumbo) at the start of the day, closing to just eight back now.
Between the final intermediate sprint on lap 12 and the stage finish he might just overhaul the Slovenian.
31km remaining from 77km
Bevin takes second and two more bonus seconds, while a LottoNL-Jumbo rider finished third.
The result means that Bevin has picked up four bonus seconds today. He was 13 behind third-placed man Primož Roglič (LottoNL-Jumbo) at the start of the day, closing to just nine back now.
Between the final intermediate sprint on lap 12 and the stage finish he might just overhaul the Slovenian.
29km remaining from 77km
We're on lap 9/14 now, for those counting.
29km remaining from 77km
We're on lap 9/14 now, for those counting.
29km remaining from 77km
We're on lap 9/14 now, for those counting.
29km remaining from 77km
We're on lap 9/14 now, for those counting.
Kiryienka is still up front, 17 seconds ahead of the peloton.
19km remaining from 77km
Inside the final 20km now and Kiryienka is still up front.
The Belarusian has an advantage of 15 seconds.
16km remaining from 77km
Another lap down, and Kiryienka is still out front. The final intermediate sprint of the stage and race is up next.
Some attacks from the peloton now, with Direct Énergie leading it.
14km remaining from 77km
It's all back together now, with the peloton strung out under the pressure.
11km remaining from 77km
Holmes has attacked for the intermediate sprint! He needs this but Paton is right behind.
Alex Paton takes the sprint ahead of Holmes. The red jersey is his for good now.
10km remaining from 77km
We're inside the final 10m of the stage now.
Schachmann leads the peloton. Quick Step will go for the sprint with Fernando Gaviria.
Mitchelton-Scott are up there too, for Caleb Ewan. The Australian could be riding his last race for the team before his move to Lotto-Soudal next year. I imagine he'd like to end on a high note with a win.
One lap to go now! Just 5.5km of the 2018 Tour of Britain left to race.
A reminder of this technical circuit, which could cause a few spills as the pace revs up.
3km remaining from 77km
Three kilometres, two hairpins and a 90-degree turn onto the finishing straight remain.
3km remaining from 77km
Lotto-Soudal and Great Britain are up front now.
2km remaining from 77km
Quick Step Floors and BMC are not far behind.
Now the Mitchelton-Scott train hits the front alongside Quick Step Floors.
The final hairpin bend now, with 1.5km to go.
Bob Jungels leads Keisse and Alaphilippe at the head of the peloton.
Mitchelton-Scott lead through Trafalgar Square.
Round the final corner!
Ewan goes first with 200 metres to go!
It's Ewan vs Ethan Hayter in the closing metres. It looks like Ewan will hold off the young Brit.
Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) wins stage 8 of the Tour of Britain.
Julian Alaphilippe (Quick Step Floors) wins the Tour of Britain.
A great way for Ewan to end his time at Mitchelton-Scott.
And it's another win in an amazing season for Alaphilippe. Along with this win, he has two Tour de France stages, the polka dot jersey, La Flèche Wallonne, Clásica San Sebastián, and stages at Itzulia, Colombia Oro y Paz and the Critérium du Dauphiné.
Here's a shot of Ewan crossing the line, courtesy of @Movistar_Team.
Stage results and general classification coming up!
While Alaphilippe enjoys another big win during his golden year, there are several other prizes to hand out.
Nicholas Dlamini (Dimension Data) is the king of the mountains, Patrick Bevin (BMC) wins the blue points jersey, and Alex Paton (Canyon-Eisberg) takes the red sprint jersey.
While Alaphilippe enjoys another big win during his golden year, there are several other prizes to hand out.
Nicholas Dlamini (Dimension Data) is the king of the mountains, Patrick Bevin (BMC) wins the blue points jersey, and Alex Paton (Canyon-Eisberg) takes the red sprint jersey.
While Alaphilippe enjoys another big win during his golden year, there are several other prizes to hand out.
Nicholas Dlamini (Dimension Data) is the king of the mountains, Patrick Bevin (BMC) wins the blue points jersey, and Alex Paton (Canyon-Eisberg) takes the red sprint jersey.
While Alaphilippe enjoys another big win during his golden year, there are several other prizes to hand out.
Nicholas Dlamini (Dimension Data) is the king of the mountains, Patrick Bevin (BMC) wins the blue points jersey, and Alex Paton (Canyon-Eisberg) takes the red sprint jersey.
The podium ceremony is going on at the moment, with the four jersey winners taking their prizes.
Matt Holmes got an award – the overall combativity award probably. LottoNL-Jumbo take the team prize, while Scott Davies (Dimension Data) is the best British rider.
As we wait for the post-race press conferences, why not take a look at what happened in Spain today? Click here to read the Vuelta stage 15 race report, and click here for the live report.
We'll be hearing from both Ewan and Alaphilippe shortly.
Julian Alaphilippe's post-race comments:
For sure we celebrate a great feeling to win the race,
And here's Caleb Ewan speaking to the host broadcaster earlier:
It's the last last race of the year and the last for my team so I really wanted to finish off with a good result. I was just so motivated to win this stage and I'm just happy that I had the strength in the legs.
It was really hectic in the end and I was just lucky that the team put me in a perfect position. Not many guys had leadouts in the end and I could pick the wheels I wanted to be on. I had a really good run to the line.
The year hasn't been great, and to finish off with a win means a lot for me. It gives me a bit of confidence going into next year as well.
And that's the Tour of Britain over and done with for another year. hope you've enjoyed following it live on Cyclingnews with me. Until next time...
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