Hat-trick for Boasson Hagen
Eurosport - Fri, 18 Sep 11:31:00 2009
Edvald Boasson Hagen claimed the yellow jersey with his third consecutive stage victory at the Tour of Britain.
While Mark Cavendish remains the world's undisputed number one sprinter, Norwegian Hagen - who will ride for British Cycling's Team Sky next season - is clearly emerging as his likely rival.
Hagen is just 22 - two years younger than Cavendish, who has already notched a half century of professional victories, including ten stages of the Tour de France and five wins in the Giro d'Italia.
He saw off the challenge of Italy's Fillipo Pozzato and Great Britain's Russell Downing to claim a 134km stage that started and concluded in Stoke and included a category one climb at Gun Hill.
Hagen - who also won when the race visited Stoke 12 months ago - started the fifth stage just one second behind race leader, Rabobank's Kai Reus.
"I watched last year's stage last night and saw how I did things and that seemed to pay off," Boasson Hagen revealed.
"I watched the finish and it reminded me of how it went and that helped a lot - I really like the finish because it's pretty technical.
"The team did amazingly well again today and the plans we put in place came off almost perfectly.
"Winning the Stoke stage last year was probably the highlight of my year because nobody expected me to do it.
"Finally getting my hands on the yellow jersey is a great feeling and equally as good as winning the stages."
Many thought the lumpy profile of the race could suit a breakaway but despite the efforts of Australia's Darren Lapthorne, Italy's Alan Marangoni, Britain's Dan Fleeman and France's Nicolas Vogondy - who opened up a lead that peaked at six minutes - a fourth bunch finish in five days soon appeared likely.
Colombia-HTC put in a solid shift at the head of the peloton to overhaul the leaders and again lay the foundations for their in-form team leader Hagen to exploit in the explosive closing metres.
He now holds a nine second advantage over Reus with Australia's Chris Sutton a further five seconds back.
Downing, another who has committed to Team Sky next season, is the top home rider in fifth, 29 seconds behind his future team-mate.
Topsport's Pieter Vanspeybrouck did not sign in for the start of the stage after sustaining injuries during a heavy fall in the closing stages of Tuesday's sprint finish in Blackpool.
Thursday's sixth stage takes rolls out of Frome on a 183.7km journey that includes a spiteful category one climb that is proceeded by a 60km downhill run into Bideford.
This site is Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! and Eurosport. All rights reserved.
- Terms of Service
- Updated Privacy Policy
- Copyright/IP Policy
- Remarks and Suggestions
- Corporate info
- Jobs at Eurosport
Notice: We collect personal information on this site. To learn more about how we use your information, see our Privacy Policy.
Comment 1 - 6 of 6
He's young, he's clearly got some talent. It will be interesting to see where he goes over the next few years. One thing is for sure, Sky have signed a good one!
He certainly has the tools, but he would need to lose a fair bit of weight to compete with the likes of Schleck, Contador, Nibali, Kreuziger in the coming years. The likes of Valverde, Kirchen, Sanchez have shown how difficult it is compete for the GC over a three-week tour, when you're not a natural climber. That said, he looked pretty good in some of the mountain stages of the Giro, but doing it day-in day-out for three weeks is something else. I think he should concentrate on classics and short stage races for now - he is still very very young, remember. Also remember, the Tour de France is not the only important race in cycling!
u dont think hes gt material!perhaps as 2 said short tours,green jerseys,prologues and classics?i would be shocked if he can beat contador,schlecks,menchov,sastre,evans,nibali...in a 3 week tour!
comment number 2...I concur...three-week GTs are beasts, especially if you want to follow natural climbers.
That's one hell of a step up.
We know he's a good time trialist. We know he's an excellent sprinter. However, latching onto the wheel of Contador and A. Schleck whilst tacking a hors catégorie climb is one almighty proposition. Smaller Tours and Grand Tour points jerseys look more feasible for the foreseeable future. He'll definitely want a crack at Cavendish, who he lead out brilliantly during the Giro.
If the Norwegian thinks he has that climbing ability within him, he'd have to forego his sprinting prowess, and have a look at his body composition. The level you need to be at to win the Tour ensures there is no compromise on that.
I have commented previously on E B-Hs skill as a rider. This ToB is proving what a (world) champion he is. With this level of attainment who would bet against Evald winning the Tour de France?
Not me!
Any takers?
Please login to post a comment
Not already a Yahoo! user ? Sign up to get a free Yahoo! Account