Intro:

Britain's Mark Cavendish won the final stage and his compatriot Bradley Wiggins took the overall title of the Tour of California on Sunday (May 18).

Script:

The 2014 Amgen Tour of California came to a close on Sunday in Thousand Oaks.

The eighth and final stage ran 76.1 miles (122.4 kilometres) and included an elevation gain of 8,800 feet (2.68 kilometres).

Britain's Bradley Wiggins, the Sky rider who won the 2012 Tour de France, had the yellow jersey and started the stage with a 30-second lead over Australia's Rohan Dennis of Garmin-Sharp. Wiggins moved into the lead after his dominating individual time trial in Stage 2 (his first stage victory of the season).

Niki Terpstra of the Netherlands, riding for Omega Pharma-Quickstep, broke away from the peloton and was followed by Australian Jack Bobridge (Belkin).

The overall leader was content to remain with the pack as others pushed forward - he needn't do no more.

The descent brought the riders back together and Omega Pharma-QuickStep's Mark Cavendish made a run towards the front of the peloton. Cavendish, a sprint cyclist with 25 Tour de France stage wins to his name, won the first stage of this Tour and had a good position as they neared the finish.

The final sprint saw Cavendish taking on Stage 7 victor Peter Sagan and the 'Britain' won. He threw his hands in the air early and it nearly cost him, as Germany's John Degenkolb made a late push and lost by inches.

Degenkolb, of Giant Shimano, took second and Sagan, the Slovak on Cannondale, came in third - both in the same time with Cavendish of two hours, 53 minutes and 50 seconds.

Wiggins finished in the pack in 20th place to win the Tour of California overall title. He defeated Dennis by the same 30 second margin he started the day with.

Wiggins is a four-time Olympic track and road cycling gold medallist. It's not clear if the 34-year-old cyclist will ride in the Tour de France, which begins July 5th.

For the fifth year in a row Sagan topped the sprint standings, Garmin-Sharp - won the team prize.