Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka finished off this year’s Tour of Britain in style as Edvald Boasson Hagen powered to victory after a late attack.
If anybody had thought that today’s final stage would be a sprint parade into Cardiff, they were quickly proven wrong. Countless attacks occurred in the opening kilometers and the peloton was strung out right from the beginning. After 30 km of racing, the riders were all over the road with the pack split up into four different groups.
Ultimately, 35 riders managed to get off the front. The group later grew to over 50 riders but never more than that. The rest of the peloton got distanced by several minutes, leaving the front riders to fight for the stage and the overall victory.
Multiple riders tried to get away on the final kilometers but nobody seemed to succeed. Boasson Hagen put in a strong attack with 7 km to go, but his rivals were quick to react and bring him back. It looked like the stage would finish in another bunch sprint but with 3 km left to go, Boasson Hagen found energy to attack once more. This time, he immediately got a gap on the peloton as he threw his Cervélo bike through the slippery corners towards the finishing line. The teams of the sprinters did their best to bring back the Norwegian but nobody could catch Boasson Hagen who kept the chasers at bay and soloed to victory.
Lars Boom (Team LottoNL-Jumbo) managed to hold on to his leader’s jersey to win Tour of Britain overall, while Boasson Hagen’s impressive stage victory landed him 10 bonus seconds, which saw him move up to second place in the general classification. Stefan Küng (BMC Racing Team) finished third.
Edvald Boasson Hagen
