Boasson Hagen prevails on home soil

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It was no surprise to witness Edvald Boasson Hagen winning the queen stage of the Glava Tour of Norway finishing in Lillehammer, only a few miles away from his village of Rudsbygd, but the way he took the lead in his national Tour through a solo victory was impressive. His breakaway companion Sergio Paulinho (Saxo-Tinkoff) could do nothing but let him go with 1.5km remaining as thousands of people were cheering loudly for Boasson Hagen on the uphill finish in the town that hosted the 1994 winter Olympics.

"In the last 10 kilometers after the hill where we broke away, I never got any information on how far the chasers were," Boasson Hagen told Cyclingnews about the battle of two attackers who had less than 10 seconds but never gave up against the chase led by Blanco and Sojasun's Anthony Delaplace.

"It was only a question of pushing and continuing 'til the end. We rode very well together with the Saxo Bank rider. We never gave up. It makes it one of the best wins of my career. My first one at the Tour de France in the rain [in Lisieux in 2011] was a good one, too, but here - this is my hometown. So many people came and cheer for me. When I woke up this morning, well, every day of my cycling career, I'm motivated, but today, I was even more motivated."

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His parents, Signe Boasson (mom) and Odd-Erik Hagen (dad), as well as his brother Stian were among the fans who were about to finish eating the 3,000 hamburgers they ordered when they saw the breakaway group passing the hill of Jøstadhøgda at half way into the race. Rudiger Selig of Katusha, acting in defense of Alexander Kristoff's yellow jersey, Sander Cordeel of Lotto-Belisol riding to consolidate his polka dot jersey, former French champion Nicolas Vogondy (Accent Jobs-Wanty), Johann van Zyl (MTN-Qhubeka), Magnus Cort Nielsen (Cult Energy), Edvin Wilson (Joker-Merida) and Kristian Dyrnes (Oster Hus-Ridley) had a lead of seven minutes over the bunch led by Team Sky.

It didn't look as easy as on paper for the British squad when Laurens Ten Dam (Blanco) and Johann Tschopp (IAM Cycling) rode away from the bunch in the first ascent of Kinnshaugen, the major climb of the day where it became obvious that Kristoff would have a hard time holding the pace on the second ascent.

Paulinho's attack with 30km to go was the decisive one. Once Boasson Hagen had used all his teammates, he attacked on his own and bridged the gap to the Portuguese rider before the summit. That's where their cooperation took shape.

It looked like an easy day on the bike for the local hero who had already won that stage last year in a similar duel with Australia's Simon Clarke of Orica-GreenEdge, and the sunny weather made it even more enjoyable for him.

"I knew that my form was good," Boasson Hagen said. "I've been training hard and this race is part of my build-up for the Tour de France."

Boasson Hagen's potential successor appeared to being Sondre Holst Enger, who defended his white jersey of best young rider with a great courage in the chasing group. "It's really cool to finish up there," said the 19-year-old from Team Plussbank, who crossed the line in fourth position, just behind Blanco's Bauke Mollema.

"But it was very hard. I'm more of a sprinter. I didn't expect to be able to fight on the climbs with those Tour de France riders, but I don't really know who they are. We weren't far from Edvald at the end. It's a bit sad that we didn't catch him."

It was like a dream scenario written in advance to please the locals, but it was also the best way for the Norwegian to claim his first victory of the year one day after his 26th birthday.

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