Edvald Boasson Hagen claimed overall victory at the Tour of Norway as the final stage ended in a bunch sprint.

Holding a 14-second overnight advantage over Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEDGE) the Norwegian only had to finish in the peloton to take victory in his home country, sealing a popular win with team-mate Lars-Petter Nordhaug backing up his compatriot in third overall.

Former Team Sky rider Russell Downing (Endura Racing) took the final bunch kick into Honefoss to bring the five-day event to a close, edging out Clarke, who trimmed the overall gap to eight seconds in a battling finish.

Tosh Van Der Sande (Lotto-Belisol) claimed third on the day while sixth place was enough to secure the overall, points, and young rider jerseys for Boasson Hagen.

He was understandably delighted to have won in front of his home fans, telling us: "The support has been really great, with so many people on the roadside throughout the race and I'm so pleased to have been able to win in front of them.

"It’s a very special race for me to be in and it was a great performance by the whole team to help me take the victory - I'm very grateful to them."

The 25-year-old revealed the final stage passed off without any real alarms thanks to that strength in depth, adding: "It all went perfectly to plan – the team rode really well throughout and controlled the whole day.

"It was fantastic from them and it was so nice to sit behind that train and see the control they were exerting, it was very impressive.

"It's been a lot of fun to race with them this week and show them Norway - even if the weather wasn’t always as good as it could have been!"

Norwegian finale

Much brighter conditions greeted the peloton as a six-rider move headed clear early into the 172km test from Gjovik.

With the yellow jersey on the shoulders of Boasson Hagen the emphasis was always going to be on Team Sky to control things and the team duly kept the day’s breakaway at arm’s length, securing the team's classification in the process.

The pace was kept high on five laps of a 13.7km finishing circuit around the town, the peloton strung out as the break were finally reeled in ahead of the bell lap.

Orica-GreenEDGE arrived on the front to help with the pace-setting as the peloton fended off a number of late attacks and the race culminated in its fourth bunch sprint in five days.

Great week

After the race a happy Marcus Ljungvist wrapped up the day and summed up what has been a successful debut in Norway for Team Sky.

The Sports Director said: "It has been a great week and the team rode fantastically well from day one until today. They really deserved this win.

"There were a few attacks at the end today but the guys were riding so strong it was difficult for anyone to get away. We went for the sprint at the end but Edvald was able to stay safe and take the overall.

"We’ve had a really good time at this race. It’s nice the sun finally came out and warmed things up today. We’re leaving Norway with a smile on our face."