Cycling-Cavendish sprints to stage win, Wiggins stays ahead

Sept 21 (Reuters) - Briton Mark Cavendish held on to win the seventh stage of the Tour of Britain on Saturday as compatriot Bradley Wiggins maintained his overall lead with one stage left. Cavendish won the 155.8km ride from Epsom to Guildford in a time of 3 hours 46.57 seconds to register his second stage victory of the race. The Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider sprinted from deep, holding off a late challenge from Italian rider Ella Viviani, who finished second, and Germany's Gerald Ciolek in third. Cavendish admitted to mistiming his attack due to over-confidence. "We planned to kick with 700 meters to go but I am just lucky that I have that second kick," he told reporters. "The guys did a brilliant job and I am so happy." Team Sky's Wiggins crossed the line with the rest of the peleton and leads the general classification by 26 seconds from Team IAM Cycling's Martin Elmiger. Britain academy rider Simon Yates is third heading into Sunday's final stage in central London. The 33-year-old Wiggins, last year's Tour de France champion, is aiming to become the second Briton in a row to win the race after Jonathan Tiernan-Locke won it in 2012. (Writing by Tom Hayward, Editing by Mark Meadows)