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Michele Merlo edged a bunch sprint finish to win the final stage of the Tour of Britain as Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen put the finishing touches to his yellow jersey victory.

The 25-year-old Barloworld rider timed his finish to perfection to sneak victory in the 92km criterium around the streets of London from under the noses of Koldo Fernandez and Garmin-Slipstream's Chris Sutton.

Boasson Hagen, the latest addition to Team Sky, looked ominously poised to clinch his fifth stage victory of the eight-day race as he lurked on the shoulder of the leaders in the closing kilometres.

But Merlo stole a march on Boasson Hagen, as well as Britain's Rob Hayles, who was well placed to follow up compatriot Ben Swift's victory on Friday.

It didn't take long for the first attack to develop and it was Barloworld's Geraint Thomas who once again set the pace, opening up a small early gap on the rest of the field

But he was swiftly reeled back in by the peleton before Belgium's Thomas De Gendt, already crowned King of the Mountains and sprints supremo, made his move.

But the flat streets of the British capital made it difficult to for any breakaway to gather momentum and it was not until after the halfway stage that a significant gap appeared.

Last year's overall champion Geoffroy Lequatre was clearly intent on going out on a high and he burst clear along with Australia's Darren Lapthorne and Simon Clarke as well as Davide Apollonio and Tom Stamsnijder.

But the quartet could only increase their lead to 25 seconds and at Tower Hill on lap six, the peleton had once again swallowed up the leaders.

Olympic gold medallist Ed Clancy has insisted all week the terrain in London would suit him and, along with Nicolas Roche and Dan Craven, he pulled away with just two laps remaining.

But their lead was short-lived and in the closing kilometres, the big guns assembled at the front of the peleton.

Approaching the final sprint into Westminster Bridge, Halfords had positioned Hayles well, while Team Columbia-HTC once again worked Boasson Hagen into a position to win the race.

But it was Merlo who powered through to take the stage by a tyre's width from Fernandez and Sutton.

Sutton's third place finish ensured he was forced to settle for second behind Boasson Hagen in both the overall classification, at 23 seconds, and in the points competition.

More Than The Games / Eurosport