André Greipel was first across the line on the final stage of the Tour of Britain, but this move against Elia Viviani saw the runner-up awarded victory.
German powerhouse André Greipel was the one celebrating stage 8 victory at the end of the Tour of Britain in London today, having won the bunch sprint that settled the honours.
But the Lotto-Soudal man's joy at winning was short-lived when the race commissaires relegated him to the back of the bunch, for 39th place in the circuit race around the city.
He was adjudged to have roughed up fellow sprinter Elia Viviani (Team Sky) in the final surge to the line, with the Italian coming home 2nd but being awarded his third victory of the week after lodging a complaint.
Greipel, who won yesterday's stage into Ipswich, veered towards the barriers on his left just as Viviani was trying to squeeze through to overtake him.
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Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN - Qhubeka) was 4th on the stage and claimed outright victory.
With the German remaining rock solid on the road despite coming into contact with his rival, Viviani was forced to freewheel to steady himself.
And by the time he had recovered he had lost too much ground to threaten the charging German.
When Viviani crossed the line waving his finger in protest at Greipel, it seemed an objection was inevitable.
Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN-Qhubeka) was promoted from 5th to 4th on the stage and maintained the yellow jersey to win the race outright.
Of the three Irish in the field, Conor Dunne (An Post-Chainreaction) was once again off the front in a breakaway.
Ryan Mullen, right, put in a very solid week in what was his first race for Cannondale-Garmin. He looked to be far stronger than 12 months ago, a fact that bodes very well for his chances of winning the U23 TT at the World Championships in a couple of weeks.
However, he could not dislodge Pete Williams (ONE Pro Cycling) from the hot spots sprints jersey and had to settle for the runner-up slot in that competition; still an excellent result.
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Ryan Mullen of Cannondale-Garmin was 43rd today, just 13 seconds down on the winner while Eddie Dunbar of NFTO Pro Cycling was 64th, some 42 seconds in arrears.
Dunne crossed the line in 96th, relinquishing 5:18 on the day at the conclusion of a fantastic week for him.
He made the main breakaway on two stages as well as being briefly up the road today.
The bumpy gallop
Stage 8: London Circuit Race (86.8km)
1 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky 1:50:16
2 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Esp) Movistar Team
3 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Etixx - Quick Step
4 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN - Qhubeka
5 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto - Soudal
6 Sondre Holst Enger (Nor) IAM Cycling
7 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Etixx - Quick Step
8 Graham Briggs (GBr) JLT Condor
9 Ruben Zepuntke (Ger) Team Cannondale - Garmin
10 Owain Doull (GBr) Team WIGGINS
43 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Team Cannondale - Garmin 0:00:13
64 Eddie Dunbar (Irl) NFTO 0:00:42
96 Conor Dunne (Irl) An Post - Chainreaction 0:05:18
Final General Classification
1 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN - Qhubeka 34:52:52
2 Wouter Poels (Ned) Team Sky 0:00:13
3 Owain Doull (GBr) Team WIGGINS 0:00:42
4 Rasmus Guldhammer Pedersen (Den) Cult Energy Pro Cycling 0:00:43
5 Zdenek _tybar (Cze) Etixx - Quick Step 0:00:51
6 Rubén Fernandez Andujar (Esp) Movistar Team
7 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
8 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Cannondale - Garmin 0:00:53
9 Chris Anker Sørensen (Den) Tinkoff - Saxo 0:00:59
10 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) An Post - Chainreaction 0:01:02
55 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Team Cannondale - Garmin 1:12:34
57 Eddie Dunbar (Irl) NFTO 1:13:31
95 Conor Dunne (Irl) An Post - Chainreaction 1:45:11
Sprints Classification
1 Peter Williams (GBr) One Pro Cycling 18 pts
2 Conor Dunne (Irl) An Post - Chainreaction 11
3 Danilo Wyss (Sui) BMC Racing Team 10
4 Pim Ligthart (Ned) Lotto - Soudal 8
5 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team 8
6 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Cannondale - Garmin 7
7 Graham Briggs (GBr) JLT Condor 7
8 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Etixx - Quick Step 6
9 Russel Downing (GBr) Cult Energy Pro Cycling 6
10 Marcin Bialoblocki (Pol) One Pro Cycling 4
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