Boasson Hagen blasts to time trial win

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Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) is still not at his very best, but second place behind a flying Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) in the final time trial was enough to give him overall victory at the Tour of Oman on Friday.

Boasson Hagen lost one minute and five seconds on stage four but pulled most of that back and moved up to second overall, just 28 seconds down on Cancellara. Australian Cameron Meyer (Garmin-Transitions) also showed his immense young talent, taking third in the time trial and so finishing third overall.

Boasson Hagen set a time of 25 minutes and 58 seconds for the tough course, with a strong headwind on the two early climbs, making for an extra hard effort after 12 days of intense racing.

Cancellara was 17 seconds slower, and Meyer was third at 45 seconds. Italy's Marco Pinotti (HTC-Columbia) was fourth at 48 seconds, to take fourth overall, but everyone else was more than minute slower than the super fast Norwegian.

Boasson Hagen also won the white best young rider's competition and the green points jersey. Gatis Smukulis (AG2R-La Mondiale) won the most aggressive rider prize, while HTC-Columbia won the team prize by nine seconds ahead of Saxo Bank.

Fast on the climbs and the descents

Boason Hagen hits a speed of almost 100km/h on the fast downhill section following the second climb and swept up the riders in front of him throughout his ride. He could have and perhaps should have won overall, but he was happy to have dominated the final time trial.

"This morning I didn't actually feel that good but then when the race started, and I could see the riders in front of me, I found some extra power. It's good to win," Boasson Hagen said to Cyclingnews.

"I used a SRM power meter and just tried to keep my effort constant on the climb. I've never ridden to an amount of watts before in a time trial but it helped. I was also fast on the descent and didn't touch the brakes. I caught one guy in front of me on the corner. He braked and so I had to go around him. It was a bit risky but good."

Boasson Hagen refuted any idea that his stage win revenge for losing the race lead on stage four when he stopped for a leak during the decisive moment of the race.

"It's always nice to get a result. It wasn't about revenge, he said. "I'm just really satisfied with my form. I didn't expect to be so good so early in the season it's good."

Like many of the riders who rode both the Tour of Qatar and the Tour of Oman, Boasson Hagen will now target Het Nieuwsblad next Saturday. He must be one of the big favourites along with Tom Boonen and Daniele Bennati, who also rode strongly and won stages here in Oman.

Cancellara admits he suffered

Fabian Cancellara revealed he will not race again until the Eroica in Tuscany in early March. His winter training was disrupted by illness in January but he is now satisfied that he is back on schedule.

He is still some way from the Cancellara who can dominate Milan-Sanremo, Paris-Roubaix and beat everyone in the big time trials, but his overall victory showed his class and experience. He was always in the right place during the decisive moments of the race and then used his time trialing skills and ability to hurt himself and come out on top.

"That was a tough one," Cancellara admitted to Cyclingnews immediately after he knew he'd won the race.

"I haven't suffered like that in a time trial for a long time. Even when I won the world title last year, it didn't hurt like that did. We've been racing for two weeks with just one rest day, I also caught a cold and we're at the start of the season, so I won thanks to my experience and intelligence."

"I've still got to go up a level. I'm not happy with my form but I'm happy with my performance and the result and I'm sure it was the right choice to come here. The important thing is that I'm going better than previous years and especially compared to last year when I was injured."

"Now it's important to recover well at home. My big goals are further down the road and hopefully when I've recovered from this effort, It'll make me stronger for Eroica, Tirreno-Adriatico and then the classics."

Happy to be in Oman

Like everyone in the peloton, racing in Oman was a new experience for Cancellara but he enjoyed it. The local people had never seen a professional bike race before but they were curious and friendly and their simple way of enjoying life was contagious and made the transfer and hot conditions easy to accept for the riders.

"It's great to win but most of all it's been a fascinating trip. The Oman people are special. We get hung up about so many things but they know how to enjoy life," Cancellara said.

"It was nice to be in real contact with the people and see them along the roadside cheering for us. No other sport allows such close contact like that and it made racing here pretty special."