Mark Cavendish narrowly missed out on winning the final stage of the Tour of Britain as Whitehall witnessed the eagerly-anticipated showdown between two of the world’s top sprinters yesterday.

The Ongar star was ideally positioned in the wheel of Marcel Kittel as the field came round the final bend of the 88.8km circuit race in London and appeared to pull slightly ahead of the Team Giant Shimano rider in the final dash for the line, but Kittel managed to inch back in front to snatch the victory on the line.

The win gave the German his second triumph in the race following his victory in the opening stage in Liverpool and completed a memorable year of racing in Britain and Ireland, following his Tour de France stage wins in Harrogate and the capital and Giro d’Italia successes in Belfast and Dublin.

Omega Pharma-Quick Step’s Cavendish was unable to add to his haul of Tour of Britain stage victories this year, but the 29-year-old spent much of the race riding for his team - with Michal Kwiatkoswki finishing the overall runner-up behind Garmin Sharp’s Dylan Van Baarle – having suffered a crash on the opening stage.