Tag: Edvald Boasson Hagen

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Edvald Boasson Hagen out of TdF

Edvald Boasson Hagen out of TdF

Edvald Boasson Hagen out of TdFTeam Sky have announced that Edvald Boasson Hagen has been forced to abandon the Tour de France due to injury after yesterday’s crash which happened as the peloton prepared for the bunch sprint. Despite remounting and finishing the stage (218km Fougères to Tours) Boasson Hagen was visibly in pain and medical checks revealed a fractured scapula (shoulder blade). Boasson Hagen’s withdrawal reduces Team Sky to just seven riders with Vasil Kiryienka having missed the time cut on Stage 9. Team Sky’s doctor, Alan Farrell, confirmed the news, saying: ‘After the crash Edvald was taken to a local medical centre for x-rays which revealed he had a fracture of his right scapula… Fortunately this doesn’t require surgery but Edvald will return home to Norway for further investigation and treatment and we look forward to seeing him racing again sometime over the summer.”’

 

Team Principal Sir Dave Brailsford added: ‘It’s a real shame for Edvald and a setback for the team that he’s been forced to abandon the race… It’s never nice to lose a rider of Edvald’s ability, but ultimately we’re still confident that with the riders we’ve got left we can pull together and see the race through. The plan doesn’t change and we will do everything we can to support Chris (Froome).’

 

Froome, who retained the leader’s yellow jersey at the end of yesterday’s stage, tweeted: ‘Tough day today loosing Eddie BH from our lineup with a fractured shoulder. Such a great guy, we’re going to miss him on & off the bike!’

 

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Team Sky’s Men Down Under

Team Sky announce squad for Santos Tour Down UnderTeam Sky has announced the squad that will lead out the first major event of 2013, the Santos Tour Down Under. The Adelaide-based event will, as always, be comprised of six stages, running January 22-27, with the People’s Choice Classic criterium kicking off events on Sunday January 20. Edvald Boasson Hagen, who finished seventh and took the points classification in the 2012 event, will lead out with former stage winner Chris Sutton heading up the team’s sprint ambitions.

 

The GB riders are Luke Rowe, Ian Stannard and Geraint Thomas with Australians Bernhard Eisel and Mathew Hayman (the latter in the role of Road Captain)? completing the Team Sky prospects.

 

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Gilbert: King of the Road

Philippe Gilbert has been crowned World Road Race Champion in the Netherlands after a gruelling 267km that proved far too much for an exhausted Mark Cavendish (the defending champion) who dropped from the race on the third of ten laps that comprised final the 160km. Gilbert produced seemingly endless bursts of speeds that ultimately saw him complete proceedings in a time of 6:10:41; Norway’s Edvald Boasson Hagen held a close second place on +4” and Spain’s Alejandro Valverde third with +5″.

 

Cavendish’s failure to retain the famous rainbow jersey came as no great surprise; he has already conceded that the undulating (at times positively hilly) course was unlikely to favour his particular talents, telling the BBC ‘I can’t win. I haven’t got a chance, so I will be in a support role for the other guys in the team.’ As good as his word it was in support that he shone today, working hard along with his fellow Brits to push last week’s Tour of Britain winner Jonathan Tiernan-Locke into an impressive 19th place finish. Tour de France first and second placers Wiggins and Froome along with Alex Dowsett failed to go the full distance, with Ian Stannard taking 36th place, Ben Swift 60th, Stephen Cumming 70th and Luke Rowe down in 88th, 5minutes and 46 seconds behind Gilbert.

 

Yesterday’s 128.8km Women’s Road Race was won by the Netherlands’ Marianne Vos in 3:14:29 with Rachel Neylan in second and Elisa Longo Borghini third. With the GB team depleted after Lizzie Armistead’s withdrawal due to illness, Emma Pooley still impressed with a 15th place finish 4minutes, 37seconds off the winner, with Sharon Laws in 39th, Nicole Cooke in 60th, Nikki Harris 66th.Katie Colclough was a DNF.

 

Image © Wouter Roosenboom

 

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Tour of Britain Route Announced

The ninth edition of the modern Tour of Britain runs from Sunday 9 to Sunday 16 September 2012, and will cover 1,349 kilometres through England, Scotland and Wales.

 

The Grand Depart will take place in Ipswich, with Suffolk and Norfolk hosting the 199km opening stage of this year’s race on Sunday 9 September. From there The Tour will visit Nottingham, Knowsley and Merseyside, Scotland, the North West, Stoke-on-Trent, Wales and Devon before the challenging final stage in the Surrey Hills, finishing on Guildford’s uphill, cobbled High Street on Sunday September 16.

 

The organisers are expecting over 100 of the world’s best riders representing teams familiar from the Tour de France. From Spain, or more specifically the Basque Country, will be Euskaltel Euskadi, Garmin – Sharp from America, Liquigas – Cannondale from Italy and the Aussies from Orica GreenEDGE. Home interest will rest on Team Sky Pro Cycling who won the event in 2009, with Edvald Boasson Hagen, and grabbed a couple of stage wins in 2011 through Mark Cavendish. Other local interest might also be provided by Endura, Node4 Giordana and Team Raleigh GAC.

 

One interesting addition will be debutantes Team UK Youth. Owned by Nigel Mansell and ‘promoting the values of leading youth charity UK Youth’ the team seems to be a bit of a family affair with sons Greg riding and Leo acting as Managing Director. You can find out more at Team UK Youth.

 

The organisers hope the event will once again ‘…showcase Britain’s stunning scenery to a domestic and international audience with some of the world’s top cyclists competing on British roads for the right to win the Gold Jersey.’ This year the key sponsors include logistics firm Yodel and IG Markets.

 

You can keep up with the latest developments at the news section of the ToB website. You can find preview maps here. You’ll find descriptions on all of the stage routes available and highly detailed interactive stage maps. If you fancy sampling a Tour of Britain route first hand, then visit www.tourride.co.uk for more information on the official Tour of Britain sportives taking place in August and September.

 

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Sky Fly at Criterium du Dauphine

More great news for Team Sky at the Criterium du Dauphine today (June 6) with Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen taking first place on the 167km Stage 3 (Givors – La Clayette) in a time of 4h 22’ 13” and defending champion Bradley Wiggins maintaining his overall lead in the standings for yet another day.

 

Speaking after the exhausting stage the Norwegian commented: ‘The team did a good job to keep Bradley up the front and I could just sit behind. Yesterday I was riding a lot at the front but today I was able to conserve my energy for the sprint… I knew I had to find my own way to the line and at the finish I was sitting on Ciolek’s wheel and he had a good lead-out; I was just waiting for the last 150 metres before opening up my sprint and it was great to get the victory.’ Adding, ‘The main goal this week is the yellow jersey and I’m here to help Bradley win the race but I got the chance today to try for the sprint; I’m really happy to be in a team like this, it’s the best one you can be in.’

 

The Criterium du Dauphine continues with Stage 4 tomorrow with the 53.5km Individual Time Trial from Villié-Morgon to Bourg-en-Bresse.

 

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Algarve Stage for Sky

Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen has taken his first win of the season, and the fourth victory for Team Sky, with a convincing sprint finish at yesterday’s leg of the Volta ao Algarve (Tour of the Algarve). The win, a bike length ahead of Kris Boeckmans (Team Vacansoleil) and with Omega Pharma-Quick Step’s Gerald Ciolek in third, puts Boasson Hagen in overall lead at 8:59:30.

 

Speaking after his Stage 2 victory, Boasson Hagen said: ‘I’m really happy and it’s always nice to get your first victory of the season. The team did a good job to keep me up front with 1k to go so I didn’t have to spend too much energy before that. Then it was just about staying on the wheel of the Quickstep train. It was quite easy to stay up there and wait until the last 200 metres and then I went. It was a goal for me to try and get a victory here. Yesterday I was a bit surprised how quickly we came to the line. I was a bit frustrated so it was really nice to get the win and the race lead.’

 

The Tour continues through to February 19.