Despite the British team having control of the peloton throughout the race, they struggled to close the gap on the lead group and Cavendish was nowhere in sight as Vinokourov out sprinted Uran to the finish line in front of Buckingham Palace.

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Since the restructuring of the business, its majority shareholders have been Allied Irish Banks and Lloyds Banking Group, who had hired advisers Cavendish Corporate Finance to carry out a "full exit review" of the business.

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"There was a group of 22 who got away and we couldn't pull them back, " said Cavendish.

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