Ryan Connor had the yellow jersey after Sunday's racing

1998 winner Andy Proffitt won Monday's final stage which helped him to move up to third overall, behind Connor and Tommy Evans.

Peter Williams made a valiant attempt to steal overall victory on the final stage and at one stage led Connor by over two minutes out on the road.

However, Williams was hauled in with about 15 miles to go as Connor held on.

Ballymena rider Connor, who was winning the event for the second time in three years, acknowledged that the final stage had been "hard".

"Things were under control until about the last 30 miles or so when all hell broke loose," he told BBC Sport.

"He (Peter Williams) was only 46 seconds down on me at the start and he was up by about two minutes at one stage out on the road."

Proffitt finished on the same overall time as Evans in the four-event but the Northern Ireland edged second place by virtue of his better performances in the time trials.

A group of around two dozen had moved clear on the Sleive Croob climb, where James Dobbin (Arctic Racing Team) was first over the top, a feat he repeated at Windy gap and Castlewellan to secure overall victory in the AA sponsored competition.

At Clough with 30 miles remaining a group of seven riders had moved clear making Peter Williams (Kinesis UK) leader on the road.

After Williams have been reeled in, three riders then clipped off the front in the run in, former British Under-23 Champion Neil Swithenbank, Jonathan Dempsey and Proffitt.

Proffitt took the flag at Dundonald ahead of Swithenbank and Dempsey, with stage four winner Fraser Duncan leading the chasers in at 21 seconds.