The 24-year-old Bora-Hansgrohe rider kicked with 200m to go on the Mall to hold off Italy's Elia Viviani and win in four hours 20 minutes 11 seconds.

Viviani's compatriot Giacomo Nizzolo finished third and Britain's Mark Cavendish 12th.

The 183km race came down to a sprint finish after a five-man break was caught with 6km remaining.

Ackermann won the second stage of the Criterium du Dauphine in June.

"It was an amazing job with how the team brought me back in the end. I crashed in the middle of the race but came back," he told BBC Sport.

"I spoke to the team yesterday and told them I was in really good shape and we did it. I am really proud."

• Wild wins RideLondon Classique

The German road race champion timed his effort up the inside to perfection as Quick-Step Floors rider Viviani ran out of gas.

A breakaway group containing Bahrain-Merida riders Valerio Agnoli and Manuele Boaro stayed clear until the final stages.

Cavendish stayed near the front of the peloton throughout, flanked by his Dimension Data team-mates, but as the sprint trains assembled on the Mall he was too far back to influence the outcome.

The RideLondon-Surrey Classic - billed as the world's richest one-day race with a total prize fund of 100,000 euros (£89,000) - was awarded top-tier World Tour status in 2016.

Race result

1. Pascal Akermann (Ger/Bora-Hansgrohe) 4hrs 20mins 11secs

2. Elia Viviani (Ita/Quick-Step Floors) same time

3. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita/Trek-Segafredo)

4. Ivan Garcia Cortina (Spa/Bahrain-Merida)

5. Simone Consonni (Ita/UAE Team Emirates)

6. Phil Bauhaus (Ger/Team Sunweb)

7. Jean-Pierre Drucker (Fra/BMC Racing)

8. Andre Greipel (Ger/Lotto Soudal)

9. Jonas Koch (Ger/CCC Sprandi Polkowice)

10. Rudy Barbier (Fra/AG2R La Mondiale)