Hagen becomes a Tour of Britain hattrick hero (again)

16.09.2009

For the second year running Edvald Boasson Hagen took victory in Stoke-on-Trent, taking his third win of the 2009 Tour of Britain as he outsprinted Italian national champion Filippo Pozzato and home favourite Russell Downing, to pull on the race leader’s Bikeability Yellow Jersey for the first time ever.

Boasson Hagen jumped at around 500 metres to go, crossing the line two bike lengths clear of Pozzato, and admitting afterwards in the press conference that he had watched his ’08 victory prior to the stage, refreshing his memory of the route into Hanley.

The bonus seconds for stage win number three edges the Team Columbia – HTC rider into yellow by nine seconds over previous race leader Kai Reus.  Chris Sutton lies third at fourteen seconds, with Downing the top Briton in fifth overall.

Once again the stage was marked by a daylong break that went clear around Millwich, containing three riders, including local rider Dan Fleeman.  Alan Marangoni and Darren Lapthorne joined the Staffordshire rider with Nicolas Vogondy also bridging the gap, although his effort took over 30 kilometres and came at a high cost in terms of energy spent.

This break succeeded while an earlier effort that included Downing, Pozzato, Kim Kirchen, Kristian House, Geraint Thomas and Steve Cummings, among others, foundered quickly when Agritubel, without a rider in the group, rode the break down.

Whereas Vogondy eventually, after a prolonged effort from the rider and negotiations from team management, joined the break, his compatriot Blaise Sonnery failed to follow him across and ended up dangling midway between the bunch and the attackers to ultimately no avail.

Once Vogondy caught the trio they began working well together, much to the relief of Marangoni who had clearly shown his displeasure at their wait for the Agritubel rider.

A maximum lead of six minutes tumbled due to a combination of Team Columbia’s watching brief on the front and the breaks indecision over Vogondy’s pursuit, with the lead amounting to only half that by the time the former French national champion joined the break after 64km.

Despite an effort by Ag2r La Mondiale and Columbia to split the peloton in crosswinds between the climbs of Wotton Hill and Gun Hill the main field remained relatively together as The Tour skirted the Peak District National Park, before an extremely fast descent down to Meerbrook and Tittsworth Reservoir.

The biggest crowds of the race so far greeted the riders on Gun Hill, with Thomas De Gendt jumping clear to sweep up some of the remaining King of the Mountains points behind the break.

On constantly rolling roads the escapes’ lead steadily fell, going from almost three minutes at the foot of Gun Hill to one and a half minutes in Leek just ten kilometres later, while at the same time a group of around twenty riders were distanced by the peloton, exhausted from the wind and the climbing.

With the break finally being caught with five kilometres to go in the outskirts of Stoke-on-Trent, Marangoni had a last ditch attempt to jump clear, but with Tony Martin and Maxime Monfort driving hard on the front of a fast moving peloton the CSF rider stood no chance.

Further hard work by Columbia ensured that there were no last ditch attacks as in 2008, with Boasson Hagen opening his sprint from the bottom of the final drag as the race exited the roundabout and swung onto Broad Street, comfortably beating Pozzato to the line.

Victory in Stoke-on-Trent is added to his wins in Gretna Green on Monday and Blackpool on Tuesday, along with first places at Stoke-on-Trent, Dalby Forest and Drumlanrig Castle in 2008.

Speaking afterwards Boasson Hagen said that victory in The Potteries in ’08 was his favourite win, but he was still very pleased with Wednesday’s victory, saying,  “I’m really happy to win today after very hard work from the whole team.  We tried to split the group but it came together again, so we decided to just work for the sprint. 

“The course today was very hard with the wind and up and down all day, but it was a nice course and actually I like the finish.  It’s a nice finish, a little bit tricky but I like it.”

Winner of the Honda Combativity Award for his ride across to the break was Nicolas Vogondy, who admitted his Agritubel team now stood no chance of winning The Tour of Britain for a third successive year.

“By the time I actually got to them I was quite exhausted, which is why I couldn’t help them at the end.  I did my maximum.  They reached us five kilometres before the finish; it’s the same every day!

“The last two-year’s we have won, but the General Classification is finished for us this year.  We will try, everyday, to win stages.  We’ll do our best everyday.” 

Breakaway companion Darren Lapthorne of the Rapha – Condor team said afterwards, “I thought there was a chance we could stay away for the finish but they really wound it up with about 20km to go.  It’s been a bit of a long Tour for me so far, so I just had to call it a day when the peloton was only thirty seconds behind as I thought we were going to get caught anyway, but I think it was still successful.

“Just to make the break, that was the goal and to be represented up there so I’m pleased about that.  To be in the move twice in The Tour so far I’m pleased about that.  A couple of days to go yet, hopefully another move by any of us will be a great result.”

Please visit the results section of the website for the full run down on Stage Five’s placings.