Eddy bosses the Tour of Britain as Greipel DQed for cheeky sprint

The Tour of Britain ended in controversy overnight as Andre Greipel was disqualified for deviating from his sprinting line - and then had to get the Tube to Heathrow.

Edvald Hagen Boasson celebrates after winning the Tour of Britain. Source: AAP

Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) crossed the line first on the final stage of the Tour of Britain but was later disqualified for deivating from his line, blocking Team Sky's Elia Viviani. Viviani was awarded the win instead.

Greipel defended his actions, saying he didn't know Viviani was there.

Edvald Boassen-Hagen (MTN-Qhubeka) won the race overall, 13 seconds ahead of Wouter Poels (Team Sky). This is Boassen-Hagen's second Tour of Britain victory, having previously won the race in 2009.

"The team did a fantastic job today. The pace was quite high from the beginning but we stayed in control for most of the time," said Boassen Hagen.

"I’m really happy to win the overall. It has been a fantastic week with good crowds and a good support, also in terms of our 5,000 Bikes campaign."

Greipel's day only worsened after his disqualification, as he and teammates were forced to take a crowded Tube train to the team hotel at Heathrow. Cycling Weekly reports that flights out of the country were apparently booked quite soon after the finish of Stage 8, meaning riders were forced to take the London Underground to Heathrow Airport.

Greipel is visible next to the elbow of the gentleman in the brown jacket in Steven Kruijswuijk's tweet below, with the tall rider in the cap believed to be Marcel Sieberg.

Cycling Central is assured by its resident whinging Pom that the Lotto-Soudal boys would have been far better off riding to Heathrow, especially if they had "banged it straight up Regent Street to Marylebone, nipped onto the Westway and turned off onto the A312".