STAGE 7
Columbia-HTC's Edvald Boasson Hagen has secured both the final stage and the overall victory in the Eneco Tour. The leader since stage five, on Tuesday the 22-year-old Norwegian confirmed his domination of the eight-day race with a win in the race's final 13-kilometre time trial at Roermond, Holland.
"Edvald did a great ride. It was a very technical, tricky time trial with a lot of corners and speed bumps, but he still knew exactly what to do," commented Columbia-HTC sports director Tristan Hoffman. "The weather didn't help either. It had rained hard in the morning and then was starting to dry up in the afternoon, so it was very hard to judge your effort on each corner and how big a risk to take. I gave Edvald all the information I could, and he only slightly misjudged one corner. Apart from that he came through fine."
Hoffman praised Boasson Hagen's Columbia-HTC teammates for their hard work for the race leader, saying "without them, winning wouldn't have been possible for Edvald, and he knows that. The Eneco Tour is a race which is always decided by very small margins, so that makes it hard to win and easy to lose, and a strong team like Columbia-HTC is vital for success."
Today's double victory in the Eneco Tour takes the tally of wins for Columbia-HTC men's team in 2009 to 71.
STAGE 6
Columbia-HTC’s Edvald Boasson Hagen increased his overall lead in the Eneco Tour with a bunch sprint victory on stage six. Boasson Hagen’s first place in the bunch sprint that decided stage six from Genk to Roermond earned the Norweigan a ten-second bonus and stretches his overall advantage to 21 seconds ahead of Tyler Farrar of the USA. Boasson Hagen’s latest victory places him in an ideal position for Tuesday’s final 13-kilometre time trial.
“It was a great sprint today. [Teammate] Mark [Renshaw] gave me a lead-out like the one he gave Mark Cavendish on teh Champs Elysées in the Tour de France,” the Columbia-HTC rider said. “The team worked perfectly to take me all the way to the line and then all I had to do was finish off the job. Tomorrow [Tuesday] my advantage should be enough to win overall, and I hope I get the victory because it would be a nice way to say thank you to the team for helping me so much here.”
“We couldn’t have asked for a better result today,” added Columbia-HTC sports director Tristan Hoffman. “We had to make a decision whether we went for the bonus seconds or not, and we decided to go for them. Other teams were interested in a bunch sprint, and in the last 10 kilometres it all came together. We knew Farrar was fast in a sprint, but Edvald’s form is getting better and better. He’s now got nearly 30 seconds on the time trial specialists overall, and psychologically today’s victory should give him the edge on his rivals for the final time trial.”
STAGE 5
Columbia-HTC’s Edvald Boasson Hagen has moved into the lead of the Eneco Tour with just two days racing remaining.
The Norwegian formed part of a break of 18 riders on the hilly 204.3 kilometre stage from Roermond to Sittard-Geleen in Holland. Second at the finish behind winner Lars Ytting Bak, the Columbia-HTC rider is now overall leader, 15 seconds ahead of American Tyler Farrar.
“We had Michael Rogers, Maxime Monfort and Edvald in the break and workiing hard and that great team effort was what got Edvald into the lead,” commented Columbia-HTC sports director Tristan Hoffman.
“Tony Martin was also close to making it into the group but then he punctured just when it was going away. If not we’d have had four guys there. Even so, having the break away for so long and such a hard chase behind made for very dramatic racing, and now we’ve got Edvald in the lead.
“Tomorrow [Monday] should be a bunch sprint, so the last day’s time trial should be decisive.It’s quite short and totally flat so it suits Edvald, but it’s also a good distance for Tyler Farrar and the riders are all very close.” “This race is going to go down to the wire, but we’re in a good position.
"My team-mates did a brilliant job today and they helped me get in the lead,” Boasson Hagen said. “Now I’ve got a pretty good chance of winning, but I’ll have to see how much energy I used up today. I came close to victory last year but lost it when I got dropped in the crosswinds and this year I want to get it right.”
