Credit: Isabelle Duchesne

Credit: Isabelle Duchesne

Credit: Isabelle Duchesne

Credit: Isabelle Duchesne

Credit: Isabelle Duchesne

 

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Boasson Hagen Wins Stage Six at The Eneco Tour

August 26, 2008

Team Columbia continued to dominate the results at the Eneco Tour ProTour race in Belgium on Tuesday, with Edvald Boasson Hagen using his power and speed to win and Andre Greipel retaining the overall race lead.

A nine-rider breakaway looked set to fight out the finish but Team Columbia did a lot of work to chase the riders and then Boasson Hagen finished things off perfectly by jumping past late attacker Jimmy Engoulvent within sight of the finish line.

Andre Greipel finished just behind in fourth place, in the same time as Boasson Hagen, and so retained the overall race lead for yet another day.

21 year-old Boasson Hagen had hoped to challenge for overall victory in the Eneco Tour and was always close to the lead after an excellent prologue time trial. He became virtual race leader on stage five after taking a time bonus but then lost more than 14 minutes and any chance of overall victory when the front of the peloton split in the strong cross winds. His stage victory made up for some of the disappointment of missing out overall and it was a valuable lesson for the young rider.

“This is kind of revenge for what happened yesterday,” Boasson Hagen said.

“It was a real pity to lose so much time and so any chance of overall victory. I took the sprint and became leader on the road but then I went a bit too far back in the peloton and they attacked at the front. I tried to chase but it was impossible and so I lost a lot of time.”

Boasson Hagen is in his first season as a major professional but has already won the GP Denain in France, the final time trial stage at the Criterium International and has been well placed in many other major races.  He is widely considered one of the stars of the future.

The Eneco Tour ends on Wednesday with an 18.8km individual time trial and Team Columbia will be looking for both stage and overall success.

Andre Greipel will start last as race leader and will try and defend the special white leader’s jersey from time trial specialist Jose Ivan Gutierrez of the Caisse d’Epargne team. The Spaniard won the Eneco Tour last year in the final time trial and is favourite to do it again this year but Greipel will be giving everything he can to win the ProTour race.