Boasson Hagen wins first stage race at Eneco Tour

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Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen (Columbia-HTC) won his first overall classification of a stage race today at the Eneco Tour. He won the 13.1-kilometre time trial in Amersfoort, Netherlands, and protected his overall lead.

 "I rode a great time trial, I felt truly great," said Boasson Hagen. "The time trial was wet, but not overly so."

He took the overall leadership Sunday from USA's Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream). Farrar skipped today's stage to prepare for the Vuelta a España, which starts Saturday. Farrar was second overall by 21 seconds after yesterday's stage.

Boasson Hagen added 24 seconds to his overall lead with a time trial ride of 16:07. He finished four seconds ahead of Sebastian Langeveld and five seconds ahead of Maarten Tjallingii, both Dutchmen for team Rabobank.

Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) finished second in the overall classification by 45 seconds. Langeveld finished third overall at 47 seconds.

The overall Eneco Tour win adds to a great season for Boasson Hagen. He won the Gent-Wevelgem one-day race in April, one stage of the Giro d'Italia in May and two stages of the Tour de Pologne this month. He is Norway's time trial champion and won the Critérium International time trial in March.

"I had a great race, I really need to thank my team," said Boasson Hagen.

Dane Alex Rasmussen (Saxo Bank) set the early best time, stopping the clock in 16:38. One hour later, German Tony Martin (Columbia-HTC) knocked Rasmussen off the top spot and gave teammate Boasson Hagen fast time checks. Martin, second on the top of the Tour's Mont Ventoux stage last month, posted a time of 16:37.

Belgian Thomas De Gendt (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) put in a surprising time as rain started to dampen the roads. He went five seconds faster than Martin, finishing in 16:32.

Brit Bradley Wiggins (Garmin-Slipstream) started off as a favourite and set the fastest time at the 5.9-kilometre time check, 7:02. As the rain started, however, Wiggins eased off the pace and turned off the course just prior to the finish without speaking to the press.

Costa Rican Andrey Amador (Caisse d'Epargne) took the top spot from De Gendt 40 minutes later with a time of 16:27. At the same time, Tjallingii posted the new best intermediate time, 6:58. Teammate Langeveld beat the time immediately after by one second.

Rabobank teammate Joost Posthuma had bad luck as he crashed through a right corner and lost time. He finished the stage with 16:58 and fell from fifth to 11th overall.

Tjallingii kept strong to the finish 7.2 kilometres later, posting the fastest time, 16:12. Just like at the intermediate time check, Langeveld bettered his teammate's time by one second setting a new best time of 16:11, but it did not remain for long.

Boasson Hagen won the stage on his way to his first overall stage race win.