Van Aert strung together four day victories in Britain. The double brings his total of season wins to thirteen. Team Jumbo-Visma’s 2021 victory tally is now at thirty-eight.

On paper, the final stage was perfect for the sprinters. The peloton allowed six riders an early lead. Thanks to the efforts of Team Jumbo-Visma and others, the leaders were eventually caught at five kilometres from the finish, after which the peloton could prepare for the bunch sprint. To secure the overall victory, Van Aert had to make up at least five bonification seconds on classification leader Ethan Hayter.

The Belgian champion chose the wake of several fast men and reacted attentively when André Greipel attacked. In the final metres Van Aert managed to pass the German. The four-time stage winner briefly looked back and saw that Hayter had not managed to limit the damage. After eight days, Van Aert was also the overall winner of the Tour of Britain.

“I’m proud I was able to finish”, Van Aert said. “The team fought hard all week. We made sure today’s stage would end in a sprint. After the boys’ hard work I owed it to them to get the victory. It was a very fast final with the wind at my back. I deliberately chose Mark Cavendish’s wheel in the final kilometre. Then I was a little surprised by Greipel’s early attack. Luckily I was able to anticipate and outsmart him in the final metres. It’s fantastic to win the general classification as well. On the line I saw that Ethan was not on the front row. It’s nice that it went exactly in the right direction today.”

The Fleming showed he is in excellent form. “This race has turned out to be more than I had dared dream of. I started it with the World Cup and Paris-Roubaix in mind. In the past eight stages we were able to work under perfect conditions towards the races in the coming weeks. The Tour of Britain has been a good race for us in all respects. A beautiful course that has many similarities with the course of the World Cup in Flanders. The preparation for my next big goals is going smoothly.”