Edvald Boasson Hagen wins the second stage of the Volta ao Algarve 2012
Edvald Boasson Hagen of Sky Procycling Team opened his winning account of the 2012 season by winning the second stage of the Volta ao Algarve 2012.
He chased down the 187.5 kilometre stage of the race in the fastest time of 4 hours, 57 minutes and 23 seconds.
Kris Boeckmans and Gerald Ciolek achieved the second and the third positions, respectively.
The Norwegian briefed after the race, "I'm really happy and it's always nice to get your first victory of the season. The team did a good job to keep me up front with 1k to go so I didn't have to spend too much energy before that".
"Then it was just about staying on the wheel of the QuickStep train. It was quite easy to stay up there and wait until the last 200 metres and then I went," he continued.
First stage winner, Gianni Meersman lost the leader’s jersey and Hagen was happy to wear his favourite outfit after the second stage victory.
Raul Alarcon won the first and the second Sprints of the race which helped him with 6 important UCI points.
He is currently leading the Sprint Classifications, Karsten Kroon and Niels Wytinck are at the second and the third positions, respectively.
Tomas Swift-Metcalfe is leading the Mountains category, after his splendid performance during the second stage of the race.
Hagen has now jumped up to the first overall position while the first stage winner, Gianni Meersman has dropped down to the second spot.
Kris Boeckmans, Greg Van Avermaet and Matti Breschel grabbed the third, fourth and fifth positions, respectively.
Matti Breschel of Team Rabobank is leading the point’s classifications with a maximum number of 29 points in his pocket.
Boasson Hagen and Meersman are at the second and the third spots with 27 and 25 points each.
Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team has replaced Team Ag2R la Mondiale to grab the top position at the team’s classifications.
The French team has now dropped down to the second overall spot with Team Omega Pharma-Quick step claiming the third position.
Hagen achieved the 7th overall position at the Tour Down Under and also grasped the Sprint Classifications during the UCI inaugural event.
He is now targeting the 194.6 Kilometre stage 3 of the Volta ao Algarve scheduled on February17, 2012.
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