Dylan Groenewegen won stage seven of the Tour of Britain while fellow Dutchman Lars Boom retained his green jersey on an excellent day for the Lotto NL-Jumbo team.

Groenewegen held off Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) during a wet finish in Cheltenham to clinch victory. Team-mate Boom finished safely in the bunch after the 185km leg from Hemel Hempstead to remain first overall with one stage to go.

There was a flurry of attacks in the closing stages but none came off. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data), Gorka Izagirre (Movistar) and Dion Smith (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) launched the final attack in the last 10km and created a small gap.

But the bunch were back together for the final kilometre, which included two sharp turns. Groenewegen came through unscathed to take victory ahead of a fast-finishing Ewan, preventing Boom’s rivals taking vital bonus seconds.

Boom will begin Sunday’s final stage with an eight-second lead over BMC’s Stefan Küng. Lotto NL-Jumbo team-mate Victor Campenaerts is nine seconds back and Team Sky’s Vasil Kiryienka a further second adrift.