Glava Tour of Norway: Boasson Hagen takes second consecutive title

Edvald Boasson Hagen of Team Sky has won the Glava Tour of Norway for the second year in a row after crossing the final line in Hønefoss in third position behind Katusha’s Alexander Kristoff ,who claimed his third stage win in five days of racing on home soil. Finishing second and securing the white jersey, 19-year-old Sondre Holst Enger of Team Plussbank indicated that Norwegian cycling has more in depth for the coming years.

“I was hoping to win the last stage as well”, Boasson Hagen told Cyclingnews. “I knew that Alexander [Kristoff] was on my wheel but I thought he was tired from the climb. At the end, I was close to getting the second place but I got squeezed in by Sondre [Enger]. However, he deserves his result because he’s been impressive all week. I’m happy to win this race once again. The Glava Tour has gone really well for me with an incredible support from the Norwegian fans.

“It was my first race after the classics, so I’m now in the process of building my form for the Tour de France where I will race as a helper for the conquest of the yellow jersey for Team Sky. And maybe I’ll get my chance to try and win a stage as well.”

For Kristoff, the Tour de France will be a discovery. After a very consistent campaign of the Spring classics [8th at Milan-San Remo, 4th at the Tour of Flanders, 9th at Paris-Roubaix], he has stepped up to a level that earned him a spot on the Katusha line-up in July. “Except for the Rund um Köln, the Glava Tour was the first race of the new block of work I’ve started before the Tour de France”, the sprinter from Stavanger explained. “To win a big bunch sprint at the Tour is difficult and our team will be build around Joaquim Rodriguez for the overall classification, but I’ll also try to grab a stage win somehow.”

In the last stage of the Glava Tour of Norway, he already managed to win without a proper lead out. He was clever in following the moves of Team Sky. Most of all, he survived the climbs. “They were a little shorter than yesterday in Lillehammer where I got dropped”, he noted. “I had won this stage in the past on a similar terrain when the race was contested by continental teams only, so I knew I could survive the steepest part. In the end, I was fully confident in my capacities of winning. I took Edvald’s wheel. Sonder tried to take my spot but I got him off. I started my sprint at the same time as him and I was faster than him. Edvald got boxed in.”

It came down to a bunch sprint possibly because of the presence of Vegard Stake Laengen in the breakaway. The Norwegian from Bretagne-Séché Environnement was the only threat to the highest ranked riders as he was seventeenth on GC at 2.34. Paris-Roubaix’ runner up Sep Vanmarcke (Blanco), Vladimir Isaychev (Katusha), Maarten Neyens (Lotto-Belisol), Grégory Habeaux (Accent Jobs-Wanty), Danael Andronov Petrov (Caja Rural), Rémi Pauriol (Sojasun), Adrian Palomares (De Rijke), André Steensen (Cult), Reidar Borgersen (Joker-Merida), Bjorn Tore Hoem (Plussbank) were the other riders trying to win the stage but they didn’t get more than 1.50 lead. Pauriol was the last man to insist in the climbs around Hønefoss. Lars Petter Nordhaug countered and stayed away until the red flame of the last kilometer.

The Norwegian from Blanco paved the way for an exceptional triple crown for his compatriots. The three of them wearing the distinctive jerseys, Boasson Hagen in yellow, Kristoff in green and Enger in white stole the show at the end. The best young rider also delivered results without a lead out. It was the definite confirmation of Enger’s talent. “I’m an explosive rider”, Enger defined himself. “I’m a sprinter but I’ve showed yesterday that I can also go a little bit in the climbs.”

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