Team Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen catapulted to a stellar solo victory on the former World Championship circuit in Sallanches to show that he's not only back - he's back at 100%.
Behind, safely tucked in the select group of leaders was race leader, Jani Brajkovic. After eight days of tough racing highlighted by a 49 km time trial and the ascent of Alpe d'Huez, RadioShack's Slovenian time trial champion, Jani Brajkovic, took overall top honors after one last difficult day in the saddle.
The final stage included five ascents, every 11 km, of the category three côte de Domancy, which measures a feisty 2.5 km at a 9.5% average.
From The Beginning
The day's early break took to the fore only two kilometers after leaving the stage start in Allevard-les-Bains.
The move consisted of Maarten Tajallingii (Rabobank), Christophe Brandt (Omega Pharma Lotto), Christian Meier (Garmin Transitions), Kevin De Weert (Quick Step), Stephane Augé, Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis), Dominik Roels (Milram), and Alan Perez (Euskaltel).
The break was given a small leash for the first portion of the day, but by the time the race hit the first climb of the day, after 50 kilometers, their gap was inside of a minute.
The break disintegrated on the slopes of the Cote des Rafforts. Before the top of the climb, all but Tjallingii, De Weert, and Perez had been dispatched from the break. Aggressive racing from the field resulted in a select group coming across to the leaders to make it a move of 13 over the top of the Rafforts not far from the halfway point of the day.
The move of 13 was made up of: Maarten Tajallingii (Rabobank), Kevin De Weert (Quick Step), Alan Perez (Euskaltel), Francisco Perget (Caisse d’Epargne), Egor Silin (Katusha), Ivan Santaromita (Liquigas), Christophe Le Mével (Française des Jeux), Sébastien Minard (Cofidis), Laurent Lefèvre (BBox Bouygues Telecom), Arkaitz Duran Aroca (Footon Servetto), Dario Cataldo (Quick Step), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky), and Remi Pauriol (Cofidis).
Not long after that, another small group came across, this time the magic number was four and included Mario Aerts, Christian Knees, Inaki Isasi, and David Millar, making for 17 at the front of the race.
With 82 km remaining, the gap to the break began to increase back to the safer realm of the minute plus range. 12 km later and the gap was up to 2:10. Two minutes would be the magic number for the break as they hit the final five circuits around Sallanches with 55 km to go.
The first ascent of the climb split the main field to pieces and dropped the gap to the break to only 1:20. Up front, the break stayed more or less together over the first ascent. Edvald Boasson Hagen put in a big effort on the second ascent to get a small gap, but it wasn't enough to ride away...just yet.
After the proddings of Boasson Hagen, the break was beginning to take on a trimmer look - down to only 10. With three laps to go, two extras had reattached, but Boasson Hagen's intentions had been made clear. Above, the weather had made its intentions clear as well with a driving rain to help the riders along the difficult circuit.
With two laps to go, the break was down to only five: Boasson Hagen, Silin, Le Mevel, Duran, and Santaromita. The gap was a steady 1:30. All signs pointed to the break making it to the line, but then the speed kicked up another notch in the chasing field, and the gap began to plummet.
As the race hit the final lap, the gap was just over half a minute. The break hit the climb one last time and Edvald Boasson Hagen wasted no time in leaving them behind. After an initial acceleration by Duran, Boasson Hagen took over and rode away.
Once Boasson Hagen jumped clear, there was no doubt, as he pushed forward to victory. Out of the field, attacks came quick and often, but there was no real separation amongst the leaders. A group of 25 came to the line more or less together with all of the favorites in it. There were some small gaps in the group of leaders, but only 25 seconds separated the main players.
Brajkovic was safely tucked in to the group of leaders and finished 10th on the day, more than enough to secure the biggest overall victory of his career.
Results
1. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky)
2. Arkaitz Duran (Footon Servetto) +27
3. Egor Silin (Katusha) +32
4. Christophe Le Mevel (FdJ) +34
5. Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Columbia) +40
Final General Classification
1. Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Team Radioshack 28:06:28
2. Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 0:01:41
3. Tejay Van Garderen (USA) Team HTC - Columbia 0:02:41
4. Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:03:46
5. Jérôme Coppel (Fra) Saur - Sojasun 0:04:17
6. Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom 0:04:23
7. Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
8. Pierre Rolland (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom 0:06:16
9. Christopher Horner (USA) Team Radioshack 0:06:20
10. Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Liquigas-Doimo 0:06:57