Cycling: The Tour of Britain is more exciting and open this year than ever before. On the seventh part of the day, Julien Vermote (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) was the winner again. As a soloist he reached Brighton after 225 demanding kilometers. Behind him, his former flight companions Ignatas Konovalovas (MTN-Qhubeka) and Dylan Van Baarle (Garmin-Sharp) took second and third place. This was enough for Van Baarle to take the lead in the overall standings.
As on the day before, it was a breakaway group that determined the stage over large parts. Vermote, Konovalovas and Van Baarle, along with Kevin Ista (IAM) and Marcin Bialablocki (Giordana Racing), broke away after just a few kilometers. Halfway through the race, they managed to extend the lead to almost nine minutes.
After that, the group disintegrated when first Bialablocki and later Ista could no longer follow. Vermote broke away on the final climb of the day and finished safely in Brighton.
In the field overall leader Alex Dowsett (Movistar) struggled on the climb and fell behind while Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Nicolas Roche (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Bradley Wiggins (Sky) held onto the field and ended up 1st : Finished 20 minutes behind Vermote.
With third place on the day, Van Baarle took over the overall lead. He starts tomorrow's final day with a 19-second lead over Kwiatkowski and 25 seconds over Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani-CSF), on which an 8-kilometre time trial is first on the agenda. The tour then ends with an 88-kilometer circuit race through London.