Boasson Hagen triples up in Stoke-on-Trent

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Edvald Boasson Hagen (Columbia-HTC) took his third victory in as many days at the race finished in a tough up-hill sprint in Stoke on Trent today.

The Norwegian took a ten second time bonus for winning the stage and replaced Kai Reus (Rabobank) as race leader. The Dutch rider was one of the first to congratulate Boasson Hagen after he crossed the finish line. Boasson Hagen now leads Reus by nine seconds going into the tough West Country stages on Thursday and Friday where the gaps on the general classification are expected to expand. Chris Sutton (Garmin Slipstream) lies third at 14 seconds.

"I am really happy to win today after some hard team work," said Boasson Hagen: "We tried to split the group in the crosswind but it came together again so we decided to keep it together and go for the sprint.

"It’s special to get three wins in a row. I did it last year and it’s nice to do it again, but I couldn’t have done it without the team. The course today was made hard with the wind and the finish was a little bit tricky but I liked it. I remember the finish from last year but I also saw it on YouTube. Maxime Monfort led me out and it was good to have him there. The hills were quite fast and I was able to sit in the peloton so it was OK."

"It is nice to have the yellow jersey," continued Boasson Hagen: "Last year I lost it but this year I have possibilities. We have a strong team here and I hope we can defend the jersey."

The tough conditions saw many riders roll in over fifteen minutes behind the race winner.

The day was marked by another brave breakaway attempt. Dan Fleeman (Cervelo Test Team), Alan Marangoni (CSF Navigare) and Darren Lapthorne (Rapha Condor) had moved into the lead after the first sprint of the day at Stone which was won by Martin Reimer (Cervelo Test Team).

Former French champion Nicolas Vogondy (Agritubel) took off in pursuit and it took the talented Frenchman 30km to catch the leaders with the quartet holding a lead of over five minutes over the bunch at one stage.

Columbia put the hammer down on the front of the bunch and the crosswinds near the finish saw many riders lose contact. The leaders were finally swept up with five kilometres to go. Maxime Monfort (Columbia-HTC) led out Boasson Hagen on the uphill sprint which he he won ahead of Filippo Pozzato (Katusha) and Russell Downing (CandiTV-Marshalls).

Thomas De Gendt (Topsport Vlaanderen) still leads in the sprint and mountains competition and the Belgian still had enough strength in his legs to pick up more points in both today. Boasson Hagen also nudged his way into the points jersey.

Nicolas Vogondy was upbeat even after his breakaway group was caught. "It took me a long time to get across to the leaders and I wasn’t able to contribute to the pace as much as I would have liked near the end.

"I gave it everything today. It is a shame that we got caught. We have won the race in the past two years and it is pretty much our strategy to attack everyday. I think this year the general classification is out our reach this year but we aim to keep attacking to win at least stage."