Edvald Boasson Hagen produced a sensational performance to win the closing time trial at the Tour of Oman.
Norwegian powers to stunning time trial success
Edvald Boasson Hagen produced a sensational performance to win the closing time trial at the Tour of Oman.
The young Norwegian has been in superb form throughout the week, winning the third stage as well as twice finishing on the podium.
And his victory in the 18.6km time trial from Al Jissah to Muscat Corniche saw him claim the points and young rider jerseys as well as vault up to second in the overall standings.
He won by no less than 17 seconds from world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank), with Cancellara's ride enough to make him the Tour of Oman's first-ever overall champion.
Garmin's Cameron Meyer took third place, 45 seconds behind Boasson Hagen.
Boasson Hagen's display ended the race in style for Team Sky and takes their tally of stage wins in their debut season to five.
Amazing ride
Team Sky's Sports Director Steven de Jongh was full of praise afterwards, telling www.teamsky.com: "It was an amazing ride. He made a really fast start - and there was some climbing early on too - so he took a lot of seconds there and also in the downhill sections. It was an excellent time trial all round."
Boasson Hagen was to the fore in all but one of the sprint finishes over the course of the race and de Jongh explained: "He's had a great, great week. He was doing well in Qatar but being so early in the season he had a bit of work to do with his leg speed and is up another level here, he's in fantastic shape."
Team Sky take two stage victories from another successful week and de Jongh added: "The team have really moulded together here this week. That process started in Qatar and it's just carried on from there. All the guys worked so well together and morale was really high which is so important."
It was the first time the recently-retired de Jongh had been in sole charge of the team and it's an experience he relished: "It's been good and I've really enjoyed it," he said. "It was hard work in the beginning though because there are so many things to do compared to being a rider."
Stage six result:
1 - Edvald Boasson Hagen - (NOR) - Team Sky - ( 25:58)
2 - Fabian Cancellara - (SUI) - Saxo Bank - (+17)
3 - Cameron Meyer - (AUS) - Garmin - (+45)
4 - Marco Pinotti - (ITA) - HTC-Columbia - (+48)
5 - Artem Ovechkin - (RUS) - Katyusha - (+1:01)
6 - Niki Terpstra - (NED) - Milram - (+1:11)
7 - Greg Van Avermaet - (BEL) - Omega Pharma-Lotto - (+1:19)
8 - Markus Burghardt - (GER) - BMC Racing Team - (+1:19)
9 - Geraint Thomas - (WAL) - Team Sky - (+1:20)
10 - Daniele Bennati - (ITA) - Liquigas - (+1:20)
Final overall standings:
1 - Fabian Cancellara - (SUI) - Saxo Bank - ( 16:02:52)
2 - Edvald Boasson Hagen - (NOR) - Team Sky - (+28)
3 - Cameron Meyer - (AUS) - Garmin - (+28)
4 - Marco Pinotti - (ITA) - HTC-Columbia - (+31)
5 - Daniele Bennati - (ITA) - Liquigas - (+47)
6 - Niki Terpstra - (NED) - Milram - (+54)
7 - Markus Burghardt - (GER) - BMC Racing Team - (+1:02)
8 - Martin Velits - (SVK) - HTC-Columbia - (+1:07)
9 - Jurgen Van de Walle - (BEL) - Quick-Step - (+1:12)
10 - Daniel Oss - (ITA) - Liquigas - (+1:13)
