Boasson Hagen extends winning streak to four

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Edvald Boasson Hagen (Columbia-HTC) won his fourth stage in four days in another bunch gallop on the Quays in Bideford. The Columbia-HTC team put on a show of strength over the rolling terrain on Exmoor and now the Norwegian sits firmly at the top of the list of overall winner contenders.

"We kept things pretty much together until 2km to go," said Boasson Hagen. "They I jumped on the Rabobank wheels until the last corner when a Cervelo rider came past me and I got a nice lead out from him. I just had to go full gas. We were riding on the front all day and I don't think the other teams wanted to disturb us. I'm glad there were not more attacks. We were riding fast and maybe they didn't see the point of attacking."

Boasson Hagen was asked if he could make it six victories on Friday's stage to Yeovil. "I will try to win again tomorrow but we will see," he said. "The team has worked so hard this week and it will be hard tomorrow and also the World's are coming and I don't want to kill them before that. We have won four stages and the yellow jersey and we are happy with that so we will see at our team meeting."

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Today's stage set off in warm and sunny conditions from the Somerset town of Frome and the day was again marked by a long breakaway attempt. Serge Pauwels (Cervélo Test Team) had attacked early in the stage and was joined by Geraint Thomas (Barloworld), Ian Stannard (ISD-Neri), Ben Swift (Katusha) and mountains and sprints leader Thomas De Gendt (TopSport – Vlaanderen).

The lead built to over three minutes with Columbia and CSF Navigare making most of the pace at the head of the bunch. It looked like the break would stay away this time when they still had a 30 second lead with 5km to go despite losing Swift on the run in. Columbia-HTC stamped its authority on the race again and brought field together again to contest the sprint.

Boasson Hagen went with 200m to go and had time to punch the air as he crossed the finish line ahead of Martin Reimer (Cervélo Test Team) and Russell Downing (CandiTV-Marshalls).

Boasson Hagen now leads the race by 19 seconds over Kai Reus (Rabobank) who finished in the bunch and Reimer is now third at 21 seconds. Boasson also leads on points and De Gendt did enough today to secure the mountains title outright and still leads the sprint category.

Tomorrow is the last chance for any of the teams to challenge Columbia-HTC's supremacy and take time on Boasson Hagen. Sunday's criterium stage result is not expected to affect the general classification in any great degree.

De Gendt explained the TopSport – Vlaanderen team tactics. "The team leader said it would be useful if I had some more points in the mountains competition," said De Gendt. "We figured out that if I won the first two climbs today, then I could not be caught in that competition. There were five of us in the break and we all worked together. I had the right guys with me."

Geraint Thomas explained how the breakaway group developed. "I was at the back when I saw the group going," said Thomas. "We wanted to put Columbia under pressure and get them to ride all day on the front and because I was in the break and they would have to keep us in check. They will all be a bit tired now.

"I didn't believe the break would stay away until about 4km to go. We gave it a good shot. I gambled a bit as well. I didn't pull flat out. I wanted to bluff it a bit but that's bike racing and you have to gamble sometimes."

"I have been feeling good on the climbs and I just wanted to keep the pressure on because Stannard and Swifty can get a bit soft and I wanted to let them know I'm still around," joked Thomas.