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San Francisco - Britain's Mark Cavendish outsprinted Peter Sagan at the finish on Sunday to win the final stage of the Tour of California for the third consecutive year while France's Julian Alaphilippe captured the overall crown.
Cavendish, who rides for South African squad Dimension Data, joined Slovakia's Sagan (Tinkoff) in zipping past Norwegian seventh-stage winner Alexander Kristoff of Katusha in the final 100m.
Cavendish won the 85.7-mile final stage in the California state capital of Sacramento in 3hrs, 1min, 12secs, with Sagan second and Kristoff third. Kristoff had edged Sagan for the penultimate stage on Saturday.
Alaphilippe, of Etixx-Quick Step, finished 11th in the stage on the same time to complete the general classification triumph in the US cycling showpiece.
The French rider finished with a total time of 31:47:50 to defeat Australian runner-up Rohan Dennis (BMC) by 21 seconds with American Brent Bookwalter (BMC) third, 43 seconds adrift.
Leading results and standings after Sunday's eighth and final stage of the Tour of California:
Stage result:
1. Mark Cavendish (GBR/Dimension Data) 3hr 1min 12secs, 2. Peter Sagan (SVK/Tinkoff) same time, 3. Alexander Kristoff (NOR/Katusha) s.t., 4. Danny van Poppel (NED/SKY) s.t., 5. John Degenkolb (GER/Giant) s.t., 6. Niccolo Bonifazio (ITA/TFS) s.t., 7. Jean-Pierre Drucker (LUX/BMC) s.t., 8. Ariel Richeze (ARG/Etixx-Quick-Step) s.t., 9. Dylan Groenewegen (NED/TLJ) s.t., 10. Travis McCabe (USA/Holowesko) s.t.
Overall standings:
1. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA/Etixx-Quick-Step) 31hr 47min 50sec, 2. Rohan Dennis (AUS/BMC) at 21sec, 3. Brent Bookwalter (USA/BMC) 43, 4. Andrew Talansky (USA/Cannondale) 52, 5. Lawson Craddock (USA/Cannondale) 1:22, 6. Samuel Sanchez (ESP/BMC) same time, 7. George Bennett (NZL/Lotto-Jumbo) 1:50, 8. Jurgen Van den Broeck (BEL/Katusha) 1:53, 9. Neilson Powless (USA/Axeon) 1:57, 10. Laurens Ten Dam (NED/Giant) 2:13
