Williams crowned Tour of Britain champion

Welshman leads home resurgence at the stage race to crown an Israel-Premier Tech clean sweep, reports Tom Davidson in Felixstowe

- Tom Davidson

It was a distinctly British setting for Stevie Williams's victory at the Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain Men on Sunday, the first home winner of the race in eight years.

By the pier in Felixstowe, fans held their punnets of fish and chips tightly in the blustery seaside conditions. When the peloton arrived along the coast, together with the race's winner-elect, a well-timed downpour soaked the scene, catching out the many spectators in T-shirts and shorts.

Williams, in the green hues of the leader's jersey, ground to a halt metres beyond the finish line. He then placed both hands over his face in a gesture that suggested disbelief at his feat, but may also have just been a simple wiping of the rain from his eyes.

"I'm over the moon to have won this race. It's my home race. It doesn't get much better than that," the 28-year-old said afterwards. Not only did Williams win the overall - the first Brit since Steve Cummings in 2016 to do so - he also earned himself two stage wins, beating two-time world champion Julian Alaphilippe in a sprint on stage two, before doubling up the following day.

Thanks to the bonus seconds he claimed from those victories, the IsraelPremier Tech rider secured the race by 16 seconds. Young Scot Oscar Onley of DSM-Firmenich PostNL tried his best to derail Williams's victory, eventually finishing second, while Frenchman Tom Donnenwirth (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale Development) nipped into third on the final day.

"It's been tough," Williams said. "After the Tour [de France] and the Olympics, we circled this race as a possible race to come and win. The punchy finishes on stages two and three suited me, so we gave ourselves a good chance. We put ourselves in the picture, grew in confidence daily, and got it done in the end."