Tour of Britain Stage 7: Urtasan wins in Devon but John Tiernan-Locke increases home lead

Pablo Urtasan outsprinted  Marc de Maar to win the seventh stage of the Tour of Britain today in Dartmouth, EnduraRacing's John Tiernan Locke finished in eighth place adding a further five seconds to his overall lead of the race.

Euskaltel's Urtasan and de Maar who rides for United Healthcare along with Ivan Basso of Liquigas Cannondal and Samuel Sanchez - also of Euskaltel Eusdadi were the final survivors of the the days big break - which started out with around 30 riders and was gradually whittled down to 10 and then finally four for the final part of the stage as the rolling Devon roads took their tool. Urtasan had enough to pip de Maar at the line as Euskaltel made their two man advantage count - all four riders finished on the same time for the stage.

A fascinating stage was further enlivened by the battle for the leader's jersey with John Tiernan Locke attacking off the front of the chasing group with 10Km to go - he was joined in the chasing grouped by a number of other riders including yesterday's stage winner Leopold Koenig who tried to bridge across to the lead group, and Garmin Sharp's Nathan Hass who finished on the same times as Tiernan Locke.

Haas now lies in second place overall 18 seconds down on the Endura rider going in to tomorrow's tough final stage culminating with a climb of Guildford cobbled High St.

Stage Seven, Barnstaple to Dartmouth, 172.9km


1) Pablo Urtasun, SPA,          Euskaltel - Euskadi,            4:20:31

2) Marc de Maar, AHO,           UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling, same time

3) Ivan Basso, ITA,             Liquigas - Cannondale,        same time

4) Samuel Sanchez, SPA,         Euskaltel - Euskadi,             + 0.02

5) Leopold Koenig, CZE,         Team NetApp,                     + 0.38

6) Nathan Haas, AUS,            Garmin - Sharp,                  + 0.46

7) Bernard Sulzberger, AUS,     Team Raleigh - GAC,           same time

8) Jonathan Tiernan Locke, GBR, Endura Racing,                same time

9) Bartosz Huzarski, POL,       Team NetApp,                  same time

10) Damiano Caruso, ITA,        Liquigas - Cannondale,        same time

Rouleur Combativity Award: Samuel Sanchez, Euskaltel - Euskadi

IG Gold Jersey, General Classification, after Stage Seven

1) Jonathan Tiernan Locke, GBR, Endura Racing,                  29:38:14

2) Nathan Haas, AUS,            Garmin - Sharp,                   + 0.18

3) Damiano Caruso, ITA,         Liquigas Cannondale,              + 0.23

4) Leigh Howard, AUS,           Orica GreenEDGE,                  + 1.02

5) Christopher Jones, USA,      UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling,     + 1.12

6) Bartosz Huzarski, POL,       Team NetApp,                      + 2.01

7) David Lelay, FRA,            Saur Sojasun,                  same time

8) Boy Van Poppel, NED,         UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling,     + 2.23

9) Christian Knees, GER,        Team Sky,                         + 2.26

10) Jerome Coppel, FRA,         Saur Sojasun,                     + 4.2