Norwegian to take a well-needed break before aiming at the Tour Down Under in 2012
Edvald Boasson Hagen is missing from the Team Sky rosters for the end of season races, as the 24-year-old Norwegian has put an end to his 2011 season. This season has been one of the most successful of his career to date but, since it began in mid-February with the Tour of Oman, Boasson Hagen feels he’s earned a break.
“The main reason is that I now have the opportunity to take some time off,” the Norwegian told procycling.no. “So to achieve that, I was forced to end the season early. I'm tired after a long season, and was not particularly motivated to ride the last few races after the World Championships.”
Following his second place overall in Oman, Boasson Hagen was riding a strong spring campaign when he was injured after colliding with a tree in the Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen. He recovered well in the summer though, retaining his Norwegian time trial title and going on to win two stages of the Tour de France.
He followed this with overall victory in the Eneco Tour and the Vattenfall Cyclassics in Hamburg, Germany, before the length of his season took its toll. He still managed to take eighth place in the World championships, before deciding to put an end to the season.
Another reason for the slightly early end to his 2011 season is that he plans to make an early start to 2012.
“I want to do the Tour Down Under,” he explained. “I haven’t ridden it before, and I think it’s okay to try something new in terms of the spring season. If it works well, I might ride next year too. If it does not work, then at least I’ll know.”
An appearance in Australia might mean that he skips the middle eastern races in Oman and Qatar, but this has to be decided as he works out his spring campaign.
“I don’t know yet,” he said. “We haven’t talked about the rest of the races on my season schedule.”
Boasson Hagen knows exactly what his plans are for the next few weeks though, where he will rest up, before beginning the long process of preparing for next year.
“There’ll be a total of two weeks of without training,” he explained. “Then I’ll have a week with slightly different activity, before the preparations for next season at the end of the month or beginning of November.”