Tour of Britain : Stage winner Gaviria hails 'beautiful day'

Colombian cyclist Fernando Gaviria crossed the finishing line first to cheers from the hundreds of people lining Farndon Road.

The sprint specialist, of UCI WorldTeam Quick-Step Floors, won his first race since suffering an injury to his left leg in July.

He said: "It was a beautiful day for me and for the team.

"This is my first win since the Giro [D'Italia] because I had an injury on my left leg so to come back and win was great for me, but also for the team, as the team really helped today.

"I crashed on my bike in July and had quite a bad injury to my left leg and I couldn't train a lot.

"I am happy because of what I have achieved and all the hard work I have done."

Fernando Gaviria picks up his trophy

Asked if he liked the route, he said: "To be honest, when we were going through the nice parts, I was going so flat out and my legs were in pain so I didn't have time to observe the scenery.

"I have enjoyed it but there's still quite a few days [of the tour] left.

"For me today, because the stage was slighter shorter than the other days, this gave me the edge, coming back from the injury."

Elia Viviani, of Team Sky, was second to cross the finish line but took over control of the race leader's green jersey.

The Italian said it was an easier stage for him than the first three.

"We got really fast through 30km and opened up a great gap," he said.

Elia Viviani receives the green jersey

"This day was the easier one. It was just more relaxed than the last few days.

"We were worried about a crosswind and we needed to be ready to do something if the wind was really strong."

Viviani said the fans lining the route through Nottinghamshire had been great.

"It's a lot of fun, when you go through the town or the smaller villages, all the people on the route," he said.

"It's good to see a lot of fans on the route.

"We have a good amount of fans, always, in Britain. They are amazing."

Doncaster's Graham Briggs, of JLT–Condor, led the overall sprint classification following the Newark stage.

He said: "I was here a couple of weeks ago riding these roads.

"The race came within three miles of my house so it was nice to be out on local roads.

"The route was really well supported and it was nice to see a couple of friends and family out.

"It was really good support out there."