Boasson Hagens takes aim at third Eneco Tour win

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Edvald Boasson Hagen will start the Eneco Tour on Monday with the full support of his Dimension Data team as the powerful Norwegian hopes to take his third overall victory at the seven-day Dutch race, the penultimate event of the 2016 WorldTour.

Boasson Hagen won the Eneco Tour in 2009 and 2011, but this will be the first time Dimension Data has competed in the race, which includes five road stages, including a 9.6km individual time trial on stage 2 and a 20.9km team time trial on stage 5.

The short, punchy climbs that typify the road stages should be well-suited to Boasson Hagen, who has already taken eight wins this year, including individual time trials at the Tour of Qatar and the Norwegian championships. Boasson Hagen also won two stages at the Tour of Oman and two stages at the Tour of Norway. His only WorldTour win this season came during stage 4 at the Criterium du Dauphine.

Dimension Data's Jay Thomson said he's looking forward to supporting Boasson Hagen during his first appearance at the race.

"Hopefully we can carry some of our success from the Tour of Britain, Vuelta and Canadian races to Eneco," he said. "We are going to the race with an experienced team, especially with Edvald having won the overall twice before. We will be looking to him to repeat that feat. With one individual team time trial and a team trial, it's going to be all about the team being super strong to help set up Edvald for the overall."

Dimension Data for Eneco Tour: Edvald Boasson Hagen, Bernie Eisel, Tyler Farrar, Nathan Haas, Youcef Reguigui, Mark Renshaw, Jay Thomson, Johann van Zyl