Italian Merlo wins as Boasson Hagen seals Yellow

19.09.2009

Edvald Boasson Hagen comfortably sealed overall victory in The Tour of Britain, as Italian Michele Merlo sprinted to victory in an action packed stage in front of thousands of spectators in central London.  Boasson Hagen crossed the line safely in the peloton to confirm victory; only his second overall win in a stage race.

The Norwegian clinched the final Bikeability Yellow Jersey to round out an impressive ride in The Tour that has seen him win four stages and also take The Prostate Cancer Charity Points Jersey thanks to his consistent placings.

Various riders throughout the stage tried to improve their overall positions by collecting bonus seconds at the three intermediate Sprint points, but in the end no one could escape the fast moving peloton on the run in, allowing Merlo to hit the front at around 200 metres to go, with the Italian taking his first victory as a professional.

Once again one of the early attackers was Thomas De Gendt, who has marked himself out as a star of the future during The Tour of Britain by spending 600 kilometres in breakaways.  The Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator rider was one of just a number of riders to try their luck in the opening laps, with Brits Tom Southam and Graham Briggs others who tried to escape.

With many riders pursuing bonus seconds to move them up in the standings, the first intermediate Sprint more resembled a finish sprint as Martin Reimer out gunned Chris Sutton and Russell Downing to move himself into a provisional second overall.

When a break did stay away it had some impressive names in it, including top ten riders Geoffroy Lequatre and Simon Clarke, plus Tom Stamsnijder, Darren Lapthorne and Davide Appollonio.  The 2008 Tour of Britain winner impressed throughout the race with his attacking riding as he sought to retain his title, and Stage Eight was no different.

Lequatre took three bonus seconds at the second Sprint, but that was still not quite enough to move him up the leaderboard, although the 22-second lead the break built was sufficient to cause concern to a number of riders ahead of him on General Classification.

Coming to the final Sprint on Lap Seven, Lequatre and co were reeled in, with Stamsnijder’s last ditch effort not enough to keep him away until the line, and instead it was Boasson Hagen who took the Sprint in a tight dash to the line with Sutton, Reimer and Graeme Brown.

Next to try their turn out in front were Olympic champion Ed Clancy, Nicolas Roche and Dan Craven, a member of the Rapha – Condor squad, who persistently attacked throughout their home stage.

Again the trio were never allowed to get far, and were caught in sight of the line on Lap Nine, setting up one final fast paced lap of the iconic London circuit, bring the peloton flying back along the Victoria Embankment for one last time.

At the front it was all orange, with Halfords and Euskaltel setting the pace for their men Rob Hayles and Koldo Fernandez.  Instead though it was Merlo who came through for his first pro victory, with Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome putting in a lot of hard work to see the Italian home.

The Welshman in particular was visibly pleased for his teammate, crossing the line arms aloft as Merlo celebrated ahead.  For the Barloworld rider the win was important for his future as a professiona.

“It’s my first year as a pro and my first win.  After two second places this week I finally got one.  It’s an emotional victory.  It’s in London, a big stage, big crowds and the first time I’ve ever been to London.

“I’ve got a lot of trust in Geraint and Chris, they did a great job and took me to the front.  This win is for them and the whole team.  Geraint has worked really hard for me all week.

“Barloworld are stopping at the end of the year, so I’m trying to find a new team and this win should help.”

For Bikeability Yellow Jersey winner Edvald Boasson Hagen the overall victory confirms him as a rider who excels in the UK, with the Norwegian who will join Team Sky next season having now won three jerseys and seven stages in just two editions of The Tour of Britain.

“I’m really happy that I can win the Yellow Jersey.  It’s really good after a hard week for the team.    It’s my second overall win, my first was at the ENECO Tour.  But I never compare my results, I’m very happy to have won and really satisfied with my performance.

“It’s really nice to race in this country with all the people, it’s amazing.  It’s a nice thing with all the people around the course today, it’s fantastic.”

The Team Columbia – HTC rider was hard pressed to pick a favourite moment from his incredible week, eventually settling on his fourth stage win in Bideford in Devon on Thursday, before praising his team and saying that “it was amazing the whole week.”

Attacker extraordinaire Thomas De Gendt added the Honda Combativity Award to his Sprints and King of the Mountains Jerseys, while Rabobank were crowned as the winners of the Team Classification, some recompense for Kai Reus slipping down to fourth overall.  The Dutch rider finishes one place ahead of Russell Downing, the top placed Brit in The Tour, who once again also figured prominently in the final sprint.

For the full results of the stage, please visit the results section of tourofbritain.co.uk