Stage winner Russell Downing rides for the Stone-based Pinirello team

Russell Downing of the Stone-based Pinirello team took victory in stage seven of cycling's Tour Series in Stoke-on-Trent on Tuesday.

Rapha Condor won the team event on the night, while the Halfords team moved to the top of the overall standings.

Downing told BBC Radio Stoke: "This has certainly been the noisiest race so far, and the best one because I won."

Top-level cycling will return to Stoke in September when a stage of the Tour of Britain starts and ends in the city.

The fourth leg of the event finished in Stoke in 2008, and organisers have chosen to return to Staffordshire again in 2009.

The Tour Series event was declared a huge success, with over 1,000 spectators lining the streets of Hanley to watch the hour-long race, in which 50 riders competed on a 1.5km course around the city centre.

Tuesday's stage was the seventh of 10 in the Tour Series, with events also taking place in Colchester, Chester and Southend before the end of June.

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