Boasson Hagen claims Vattenfall victory

Team Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen continued his late-season winning streak, sprinting to the victory at the Vattenfall Cyclassics in Hamburg.

The Norwegian out-sprinted Gerald Ciolek (Quickstep) and Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil) after a perfect lead-out from teammate Geraint Thomas in the final 500m.

His success follows two stage wins in the Tour de France and the overall victory and final stage of the Eneco Tour.

"It was perfect again," said Team Sky directeur sportif Servais Knaven. "This group have been riding together in many races this season, they know each other so well now and they do everything for each other.

"You need good riders, which we've got, and if they all work together as well as that then you get performances like this. They are riding strong, they keep on winning and it's great to see. It was another brilliant day."

The peloton split in the run-in to the finish, leaving behind HTC-Highroad's Mark Renshaw, Andre Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and RadioShack's sprinters Robbie McEwen and Robbie Hunter.

Quickstep worked hard to maintain the gap, but even with teammates to usher him to the line, Ciolek was unable to challenge the Team Sky sprinter.

"In the sprint I took off at about 350 metres, trying to anticipate on Boasson Hagen. But when he launched his sprint he jumped particularly strong. I gave it my all, but today I don't think anyone could have beaten him," said Ciolek. "When you lose to a rider who is so fast and in such good shape you can't have any regrets, even though this could have been an important victory for me."

Bozic thanked his teammates Bjorn Leukemans and Marco Marcato for the lead-out in the last kilometer, but said he was powerless against the Team Sky men.

"I was quick enough to win, but hindsight is worthless. Team Sky had the numbers and did a great job."

The only German race of the WorldTour, the Vattenfall Cyclassics got underway in pleasant weather and with immediate attacks. A breakaway went clear over the first climb, with Lars Bak (HTC-Highroad), Jan Barta (NetApp), Pavel Brutt (Katusha), Thomas De Gendt (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) and Daniel Sesma (Euskaltel-Euskadi).

The five riders gained over three minutes on the field but soon Sesma couldn't hold the high pace and dropped back to the peloton.

The four riders were kept under control by the sprinters' teams, and in the end the 15% grade of the Waserberg would one by one spell the end of the breakaway. First it was Barta, then De Gendt, and finally Bak who couldn't hold on during the final circuits.

Brutt soldiered on alone, but before he could even wave goodbye to his last companion, the fractured peloton was on his heels.

Nine riders split from the field, with Brutt hanging on along with Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank), Alan Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Jurgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Matteo Trentin (Quickstep) and others, but the peloton then came back together.

The quick succession of climbs scrambled the bunch, and a late attack by Quicksteps' Dries Devenyns shattered the hopes of some of the top sprinters - with world champion Thor Hushovd and Rabobank's promising sprinter Michael Matthews amongst the flotsam. Only 30 or so riders made the split, with Sky and Quickstep keeping the pace high to prevent the return of the others.

Behind, Katusha and Liquigas tried to close the gap, but the Team Sky train was running full steam and held off both the chase and the challenge from the other sprinters, delivering Boasson Hagen perfectly to the victory.

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