Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) carried the same speed as green jersey winner Mark Cavendish (HTC Highroad) into yesterday's final sprint but couldn’t come around, finishing second to the Manxman on the Champs Elysees in Paris.
It was one of many solid results for the Norwegian in this year's Tour de France, the highlights being his wins in stage six to Lisieux and stage seventeen to Pinerolo. The first two Tour wins in the Tour for Boasson Hagen were also the first for Team Sky in their short history. “I was on the wheel of Mark and would have tried anything to pass him, but it was not easy,” Boasson Hagen said of the race's final showdown. “I had a chance, but second place after Mark is not bad. The team did great again. They kept me well in the front.”
Team Sky director Sean Yates was also proud of the squad. “It was an excellent performance by the whole team, who worked really hard to set up Edvald for the finish,” he commented on the team’s website. “Ben Swift was in the break which took the pressure off the boys. We know Eddy's legs are good and [Juan Antonio] Flecha put him in the right place. It was a great display from Edvald and an excellent way to finish.”
Even in their best Tour de France of two participations, Sky was not without bad luck. They lost their primary General Classification hope, British road race champion Bradley Wiggins, to a broken collarbone from a crash during stage seven. Flecha was in a breakaway on stage nine, with a stage win possible, when he was taken out by a French television car. The Spaniard was able to continue, but with considerable wounds.
Geraint Thomas, a bright spot for Team Sky throughout the race, hinted at the team’s resilient attitude through the adversity. “It was a big blow when we lost Bradley, but we had to move on quickly as there were still two weeks of racing left,” Thomas stated. “I think we bounced back really well. We were aggressive, we attacked and we got in the breaks,” he added.
Thomas was often active for Sky, serving as Boasson Hagen’s primary leadout man. He also got into breakaways, including the mountainous journey on stage twelve that netted him the most aggressive rider prize for the day. By Paris, the rigors of the three-week race had caught up to him.
“I’m on my knees now though, it’s been two days too many for me,” he said. “But there's nothing better than coming here and finishing the race; it's a massive buzz. It's almost like winning a race when you do the laps around here [on the Champs Elysees].”
Sky also had strong performances from two of its youngest riders. Rigoberto Uran also tired out in the Tour’s grueling third week, but left with some prizes to take home and confidence to build on next year. Uran was in the thick of the heated white jersey competition, before a bad day on the stage to Alpe d’Huez eliminated any hopes he had to take the jersey to Paris.
And although Swift, Sky’s ‘other’ prized sprinter, was never able to mix it up with the fast men on a flat finish, he sounded pleased to be in a short-lived breakaway on the Champs Elysees. “It was good fun today and nice to finally get in a bit of a break. I really enjoyed it out there,” he commented after the stage. “I absorbed as much as I could and the massive crowds definitely helped you forget about the pain.”
Ultimately, even with the unfortunate loss of Wiggins, Yates expressed pleasure with his team’s second Tour. “It's a massive step forward from last year and has been great to see,” he concluded. “Edvald's won two stages, was second again today and the team have been in nearly all the moves. They've been aggressive and I'm very, very proud of the way they regrouped and refocused.”
“It gives us plenty of confidence. We're still a relatively new team but this bodes very well for the future.”