Monday 2 May 2016 09:58, UK
French veteran Thomas Voeckler claimed the overall title at the Tour de Yorkshire by winning a thrilling third and final stage in Scarborough.
The 36-year-old Direct Energie rider followed a late attack out of a five-man lead group by Nicolas Roche (Team Sky) and then comfortably beat the Irishman in a two-man sprint.
The rest of the front group finished nine seconds later, with Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) clinching third place ahead of Anthony Turgis (Cofidis) and Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo).
The result handed Voeckler a six-second overall victory over runner-up Roche, while Turgis rounded out the podium, 16 seconds down on his compatriot.
Voeckler told ITV Sport: "When you win, it's always perfect. It was a hard day and it was not so easy in the final because of the Team Sky - they were very strong.
"I'm really happy to win because it feels like home when the crowd is always shouting my name."
Voeckler was third overall in last year's race after finishing second in the sprint into Scarborough, and he admitted he heeded the lessons of that defeat.
He added: "The good thing was I knew how the final kilometres were, so I really knew how to launch the sprint. Last year I made second and I said to myself, 'Make all the chances to win today'.
"I launched my sprint pretty early, but with a backwind, it was not so bad. It's not only with the strength of my legs; it was also with my head."
The 198km final stage served up an action-packed day of racing in which riders fought a constant battle against strong winds and six categorised climbs.
Team Sky gradually obliterated the peloton with repeated accelerations in the final 100km, and the lead group of five then formed with 28km to go after Roche attacked on the penultimate climb, the Cote de Hardwood Dale.
The quintet were still as one when they reached the last climb, the Cote de Oliver's Mount, but then Roche attacked again just short of the summit, with 6.3km to go, and only Voeckler was able to catch up to him.
Having worked together to eke out a 10-second lead going into the final 1km, Voeckler cunningly positioned himself in Roche's slipstream and then sprinted past in the final 200m.
Organisers revealed afterwards that more than two million spectators had watched the three-day race.
Stage three result
1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Direct Energie, 4:51:57
2 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky, same time
3 Adam Yates (GB) Orica-GreenEdge, +9sec
4 Anthony Turgis (Fra) Cofidis, st
5 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, st
Final general classification
1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Direct Energie, 13:05:16
2 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky, +6sec
3 Anthony Turgis (Fra) Cofidis, +16
4 Adam Yates (GB) Orica-GreenEdge, +17
5 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, +21
