Edvald Boasson Hagen

Later in the year he competed in the Beijing Olympics Road Race, finishing 71st, and entered the ProTour race Eneco Tour aiming for the overall classification.

He finished third in the prologue and was well placed in the following stages when in the fifth stage the front of the peloton split in the strong crosswinds and left him 14 minutes behind the leaders.

Boasson Hagen lost any chance of overall victory but made up by winning the following stage in Brussels by passing Jimmy Engoulvent in the final fifteen meters of the race.

At the Tour of Britain he won three stages and the points competition.

Edvald Boasson Hagen (born 17 May 1987) is a Norwegian professional road racing cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam.

Boasson Hagen joined the Norwegian continental team in 2006 and in his first season in the continental circuits he took eight wins including three stages of the Tour de l'Avenir.

As a result of these achievements, he finished fifth in the individual point standings of 2006-2007 UCI Europe Tour.

In 2007 he enjoyed a successful season and scored fifteen wins, ending up second in number of victories behind ProTour sprinter Alessandro Petacchi.

In early 2007 it was announced that for 2008 season he would leave Team Maxbo Bianchi for the German UCI ProTeam.

In late 2007 it was announced that Deutsche Telekom was to end sponsorship of T-Mobile Team with immediate effect.

The team continued under the name Team High Road.

But, after the disqualification of the Italian in May 2008 for doping, Alessandro Petacchi lost 5 stage wins in the 2007 Giro resulting in Boasson Hagen having the most victories.

Boasson Hagen won the overall classification as well as stages at Paris–Corrèze, Ringerike GP and Istrian Spring Trophy.

He also took stages at Tour of Ireland, Tour de Normandie and Tour de Bretagne as well as the Norwegian time trial championship.

Boasson Hagen began the 2008 season with a fifth place in the prologue of Tour of California, ahead of established time trial specialists like David Millar and Gustav Larsson.

He later won the concluding individual time trial of Critérium International ahead of teammate Tony Martin and the Grand Prix de Denain.

He also finished second at the Commerce Bank Reading Classic and became the Norway National Time Trial Champion for the second year in a row.

He was ranked as no. 3 in the world by UCI as of 31 August 2009, when he was 22 years old.

In 2009, he won the cobbled classic Gent–Wevelgem in a two-man sprint against Liquigas rider Aleksandr Kuschynski.

He also rode in the Giro d'Italia, his first ever Grand Tour, where Team Columbia won the Team Time trial, Boasson Hagen won the seventh stage in a sprint and finished second in the sixth and eighth stages.

In the Tour de Pologne he won the fourth and sixth stages to finish third overall, and secure Norway ten riders in the upcoming UCI Road World Championships.

Hagen also won his first stage race in 2009, the Eneco Tour, confirming his huge talent, and rising to third overall in the world ranking in August.

Later in 2009 Boasson Hagen finished his season by winning four of the eight stages in the Tour of Britain, and winning the race overall.

After months of rumours, it was official on 10 September 2009 that Boasson Hagen would be joining from the 2010 season, along with fellow Norwegians Lars Petter Nordhaug and Kurt Asle Arvesen.

Boasson Hagen started his first race with in the Tour of Qatar.

After an impressive effort and stage win in the opening team time trial, Boasson Hagen secured 3rd and 6th-place finishes as his best results.

In the Tour of Oman one week after the race in Qatar, Boasson Hagen won two stages, including the final stage in which he beat world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara by seventeen seconds in the individual time trial.

With this win Boasson Hagen claimed second place in the overall classification, taking the young riders jersey and winning the overall points classification.

Boasson Hagen won the seventh stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné.

He also retained his national time trial title.

In 2011, Boasson Hagen again finished second in the Tour of Oman, also winning the points jersey for the second year running.

Boasson Hagen won the 1st stage of Bayern Rundfahrt, and went on to win the points jersey, as well as helping team-mate Geraint Thomas win to first overall in the event.

He won the Norwegian National Time Trial Championships for the fifth year running in June, but then contracted an illness that put his Tour de France in doubt.

He did recover though, and was given the go-ahead to ride the Tour.

He won stage six of the Tour, the first ever victory by a British-registered professional cycling team in the Tour de France.

Boasson Hagen finished second to compatriot Thor Hushovd on stage sixteen after the pair were in a three-man breakaway with Ryder Hesjedal.

The next day he was again in a breakaway, and broke clear on the final climb of the day to take his second stage win of the Tour.

Boasson Hagen finished second to Mark Cavendish on the final stage on the Champs Elysees.

He is known as an all-rounder, having won the Norwegian National Road Race Championships in 2012, 2015 and 2016.

He is also a ten-time winner of the Norwegian National Time Trial Championships.