diff --git a/eth/downloader/downloader.go b/eth/downloader/downloader.go
index 9276392e7814..e14775d06a19 100644
--- a/eth/downloader/downloader.go
+++ b/eth/downloader/downloader.go
@@ -140,9 +140,10 @@ type Downloader struct {
 	stateCh        chan dataPack // [eth/63] Channel receiving inbound node state data
 
 	// Cancellation and termination
-	cancelPeer string        // Identifier of the peer currently being used as the master (cancel on drop)
-	cancelCh   chan struct{} // Channel to cancel mid-flight syncs
-	cancelLock sync.RWMutex  // Lock to protect the cancel channel and peer in delivers
+	cancelPeer string         // Identifier of the peer currently being used as the master (cancel on drop)
+	cancelCh   chan struct{}  // Channel to cancel mid-flight syncs
+	cancelLock sync.RWMutex   // Lock to protect the cancel channel and peer in delivers
+	cancelWg   sync.WaitGroup // Make sure all fetcher goroutines have exited.
 
 	quitCh   chan struct{} // Quit channel to signal termination
 	quitLock sync.Mutex    // Lock to prevent double closes
@@ -312,7 +313,7 @@ func (d *Downloader) UnregisterPeer(id string) error {
 	d.cancelLock.RUnlock()
 
 	if master {
-		d.Cancel()
+		d.cancel()
 	}
 	return nil
 }
@@ -483,12 +484,11 @@ func (d *Downloader) syncWithPeer(p *peerConnection, hash common.Hash, td *big.I
 // spawnSync runs d.process and all given fetcher functions to completion in
 // separate goroutines, returning the first error that appears.
 func (d *Downloader) spawnSync(fetchers []func() error) error {
-	var wg sync.WaitGroup
 	errc := make(chan error, len(fetchers))
-	wg.Add(len(fetchers))
+	d.cancelWg.Add(len(fetchers))
 	for _, fn := range fetchers {
 		fn := fn
-		go func() { defer wg.Done(); errc <- fn() }()
+		go func() { defer d.cancelWg.Done(); errc <- fn() }()
 	}
 	// Wait for the first error, then terminate the others.
 	var err error
@@ -505,16 +505,16 @@ func (d *Downloader) spawnSync(fetchers []func() error) error {
 	}
 	d.queue.Close()
 	d.Cancel()
-	wg.Wait()
 	if err == errEnoughBlock {
 		return nil
 	}
 	return err
 }
 
-// Cancel cancels all of the operations and resets the queue. It returns true
-// if the cancel operation was completed.
-func (d *Downloader) Cancel() {
+// cancel aborts all of the operations and resets the queue. However, cancel does
+// not wait for the running download goroutines to finish. This method should be
+// used when cancelling the downloads from inside the downloader.
+func (d *Downloader) cancel() {
 	// Close the current cancel channel
 	d.cancelLock.Lock()
 	if d.cancelCh != nil {
@@ -528,6 +528,13 @@ func (d *Downloader) Cancel() {
 	d.cancelLock.Unlock()
 }
 
+// Cancel aborts all of the operations and waits for all download goroutines to
+// finish before returning.
+func (d *Downloader) Cancel() {
+	d.cancel()
+	d.cancelWg.Wait()
+}
+
 // Terminate interrupts the downloader, canceling all pending operations.
 // The downloader cannot be reused after calling Terminate.
 func (d *Downloader) Terminate() {