Cycling: Bagdonas wins longest Tour of Britain stage

Winning feeling: Gediminas Bagdonas crosses the line at Sandringham (GETTY IMAGES)

The Lithuanian An Post rider Gediminas Bagdonas won the seventh stage of the Tour of Britain, after a close sprint finish with Endura's Ian Wilkinson.

Mark Cavendish, riding for HTC Highroad, and the overall leader, Rabobank's Lars Boom, came in seventh and 19th respectively, one minute and 23 seconds behind Bagdonas. The Welsh Team Sky rider Geraint Thomas finished in a respectable 10th place.

The longest stage of the Tour took the riders 124 miles, between Bury St Edmunds and Sandringham. Within the first hour of racing, a break of six riders, which included the top five finishers and Sigma's Wouter Sybandy, led by seven minutes from the chasing pack.

The peloton closed to within four minutes of the leaders but the breakaways continued to push their advantage and with six miles to go they were still three minutes ahead. The winner was obviously going to come from the original breakaway group, and it was Bagdonas who took the top spot on the podium after winning a superb sprint finish to the line.

Cavendish, who was seeking to push Boom out of first place in the overall standings, won a bunch sprint at the head of the main field.