Boasson Hagen wins sprint on stage 3 of Dauphine

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With the Tour de France on the horizon, sterner tests await Sky’s thin blue line - but if stage 3 of the Critérium du Dauphiné is a marker for July’s main event the team will be thoroughly delighted by a result which saw Edvald Boasson Hagen win the stage and Bradley Wiggins retain his slender one-second lead over Cadel Evans in the overall standings. Even a late crash inside the final kilometre couldn’t derail the Sky express, with Wiggins carefully avoiding the bodies on the ground and crossing the line unscathed.

That Sky were able to match GC aspirations while also propelling their Norwegian sprinter to success should be seen as an indication of how they’ll aim to manage their aspirations of yellow and green come July. However, it should be noted that Boasson Hagen won without a dominant train at his side, picking his wheels perfectly before bursting through the chaos to relegate Gerald Ciolek (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) and Borut Bozic (Astana) to second and third.

“It was a nice day for the team,” the Norwegian said in his predictive way.

“The team did a good job to keep Bradley in the front and I could sit behind. I won, it’s not easy. I’m really happy. It’s a really strong team with Bradley in yellow and I’m mainly here to help him but I got the chance to sprint today. I’m happy to ride for the team, it’s a great team. We’ll keep our fingers crossed that we can keep yellow for the rest of the race.”

Sky, it seems, had their fingers crossed through the day’s stage. Unlike yesterday’s boisterous opening, the race leaders were somewhat blessed when Luis Angel Maté (Cofidis) and Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel) attacked from the gun. Neither are overall threats and with no further action Sky could set a rather more sedate pace as the stage rolled towards La Clayette.

It was a stage better suited for the sprinters of the peloton and while Mark Cavendish and his closest rivals currently have their feet up after a long Giro d’Italia, there were a number of riders to scout ahead of the Tour. Along with Boasson Hagen – already a Tour stage winner- Ciolek, Michael Matthews, Nacer Bouhanni, John Degenkolb, and Leigh Howard were all present and accounted for.

It was Bouhanni’s FDJ outfit who gave Sky some assistance after the break’s advantage peaked at 6 minutes, with Degenkolb’s Argos also pitching in when the gap narrowed to less than two minutes.

Once nullified, it was clear that a sprint would decide the outcome. Brief resistance arrived when Philippe Gilbert (BMC) attacked with less than 2 kilometres remaining but he was efficiently shut down by Tony Martin and the rest of QuickStep, who had done the majority of pace setting in the final kilometres.

Sky’s crossed fingers struck again when Degenklob punctured, banging his rim on the tarmac in frustration, leaving Boasson Hagen’s path just that little bit easier.

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