Dutch phenomenon Marianne Vos cemented victory in the inaugural Friends Life Women's Tour by taking her third consecutive stage victory in Bury St Edmunds, outsprinting Giorgia Bronzini and Amy Pieters on Angel Hill.
The ensuing time bonuses ensured Vos finished 30 seconds clear of stage winners Emma Johansson and Rossella Ratto in second and third places, with the latter also claiming the Matrix Fitness Best Young Rider jersey for the highest placed Under-23 rider.
Italian duo Bronzini and Susanna Zorzi, who claimed the week's overall combativity award, were fourth and fifth overall, with Pieters just edging Lucy Garner and Hannah Barnes in sixth, seventh and eighth places.
Garner also took the Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research Best British Rider jersey, inheriting it on Sunday morning in Harwich after Lizzie Armitstead withdrew through illness and then defending it from Barnes in the final sprint, despite clipping the barriers in the final corners.
For the second day running Lotto Belisol Ladies' Emma Pooley was in the thick of the action, winning the Combativity Award for her constant attacking on the 108.3 kilometre stage through Tendring and Suffolk.
Loes Gunnewijk, Lauren Hall and Lisa Brennauer joined Pooley, but with no Rabo Liv rider in the front group they were brought back, setting up the final sprint finish of the week into Bury St Edmunds' Angel Hill, where packed crowds awaited.
For the third day running it was Vos who powered clear, outsprinting Bronzini, with Pieters and Barnes in close attendance behind.
Vos's consistent run of top three finishes and bonus points saw her claim the YodelDirect Points jersey, while Sharon Laws and Jolanda Neff's week long battle for the Strava Queen of the Mountains jersey ended in favour of the British rider, three points ahead of her Swiss counterpart.
Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies claimed the overall Team Classification, with American rider Hall their highest finisher in ninth overall.
Vos's victory brings to an end an overwhelmingly successful inaugural edition of the Women's Tour, with thousands of spectators lining roads and towns along the five days of the race. The hoped-for British win was not to be, with third place finishes for Hannah Barnes on stage 1 and Lucy Garner on stage 3 the highlights, while Lizzie Armitstead (Boels Dolmans) was unlucky with punctures on stages 2 and 3 before her illness. But there were plenty of positives to come from the race, not least the healthy support from fans, which augurs well for future editions of the Tour and women's cycling in general.
For those missing the Tour already, the folk at cycling comparison website Bikmo have commissioned a poster and desktop image to celebrate the Women's Tour, available for free download. The images are the first in a series marking the UK's involvement in a series of cycling events this year including hosting the starts of the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France.
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