Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) proved that he is back to his best after a few disappointing seasons as he crushed the oppositions in the Tour of Qatar time trial. On a short 11.4km course at the Lusail Motor Circuit, he put a massive 25 seconds into Jos van Emden (LottoNL-Jumbo) and 29 seconds into Manuel Quinziato (BMC) to take the stage win and move into the race lead with a 26-second advantage over teammate Mark Cavendish.

When he first emerged on the cycling season, Edvald Boasson Hagen was widely predicted to go on to dominate the cycling world. However, the lofty predictions have never been fulfilled and the last few years have been disappointing.

In the second part of the 2015 season, there were signs that Boasson Hagen was getting back to his former level as he won the Tour of Britain overall and was one of the strongest at the World Championships. Today he confirmed that impression with a dominant showing in the Tour of Qatar time trial.

Boasson Hagen had already indicated his good form in the road races where he had seemed to be at ease when he rode in the echelons in the windy desert. However, few would have predicted him to be totally in a class of his own on the short, flat and windy 11.4km course at the Lusail Motor Circuit.

Due to a special starting order, Boasson Hagen was the 19th last rider down the ramp and was up against a big ride from Jos van Emden who had been much faster than most with a time of 13.51. Only Manuel Quinziato who was one of Boasson Hagen’s GC rivals, had been close with a time of 13.55.

However, Boasson Hagen immediately indicated his intentions as he was a massive 13 seconds faster than van Emden at the intermediate check. He maintained his speed all the way to the finish and added another 12 seconds to his advantage to move into a comfortable lead with a 25-second margin.

Boasson Hagen still had to wait for the final 18 riders to arrive but none of them were close. Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) was the only rider to go faster than 14 minutes but he had to settle for fourth with 13.58.

For the GC, it was important for Boasson Hagen to put time into sprinters Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and Mark Cavendish who can pick up bonus seconds in the final two stages. He managed to do so as neither Kristoff nor Cavendish was in contention for the stage win.

Kristof had a disappointing ride with 14.24 which was only good enough for 15th while Cavendish was surprisingly strong with a time of 14.10 which saw him finish the stage in 7th. However, he still lost the golden leader’s jersey to his teammate but still finds himself in second place.

Boasson Hagen goes into the final two stages with a 26-second advantage over Cavendish which means that the Brit has to win both stages and pick up another six seconds in the intermediate sprints to take overall victory. Quinziato is 32 seconds behind in third while Kristoff is now only fifth, 45 seconds behind the Norwegian leader.

Boasson Hagen will try to defend his position in tomorrow’s penultimate stage which is a typical Tour of Qatar stage that will see the riders tackle exposed desert roads almost all day. The stage ends with a few laps of a circuit in Madinat Al Shamal where the wind has often split the field.

A flat time trial

After two windy road stages, it was time for the crucial time trial on the third day of the Tour of Qatar. The stage was held at the motorsport circuit in Lusail where the riders tackled 11.4 completely flat kilometres. There were a number of wide turns but it was a course suited to the really powerful riders.

It was another sunny and windy day when the riders gathered for the start. Barry Markus (Roompot) was scheduled to be the first rider down the ramp but as he broke his collarbone yesterday, it was Karl Menzies (Unitedhealthcare) who got the honour of kicking things off.

Sergent takes the lead

Menzies stopped the clock in 15.24 to take an early lead but he was already beaten by the second rider on the course, Gediminas Bagdonas (Ag2r), who became the first rider below the 15-minute mark with 14.47. Twan Castelijns (LottoNL-Jumbo) also had a good ride with 15.01 which was enough for second place.

Marco Haller (Katusha) slotted into third with 15.03 but it was Jesse Sergent (Ag2r) who got all the early attention. The Kiwi was expected to set an early mark and that’s what he did with a time of 14.24.

Best time for Kerby

Robert Wagner (LottoNL-Jumbo) posted the third best time of 15.00 and even Davide Rebellin (CCC) delivered a decent performance to briefly make it into the top 10. However, it was Joey Rosskopf (BMC) who was the first rider to get close to Sergent as stopped the clock in 14.31 to slot into second.

Artyom Zakharov (Astana) had a surprisingly good ride with 14.54 which saw him move into fourth and Dmitriy Kozontchuk (Katusha) became the fifth rider below the 15-minute mark with 14.57. However, it was Jordan Kerby (Drapac) who created the biggest surprise as he stopped the clock in 14.10 to take the lead with a big 14-second advantage over Sergent.

Westra moves into the hot seat

Berden De Vries (Roompot) stopped the clock in 14.32 to slot into fourth before Hugo Houle made it two Ag2r riders on the provisional podium with a time of 14.23 which was good enough for second. Mads Pedersen (Stölting) also posted a fast time of 14.31 which was good enough for fifth.

Benoit Jarrier (Fortuneo-Vital Concept) became the next rider to make it into the top 10 with 14.59 before Rick Zabel (BMC) did better than expected with 14.26, the fourth best time. However, everybody was already eagerly awaiting the arrival of Lieuwe Westra (Astana) who lived up to expectations by going one second faster than Kerby and taking the lead.

Van Emden crushes the opposition

Nils Politt (Katusha) cracked the podium with a time of 14.17 which was good enough for third and another great talent Mike Teunissen (LottoNL-Jumbo) was also in the top 10 with 14.26 for seventh place. Lars Boom (Astana) was one of the pre-race favourites and duly posted the best intermediate time but when he arrived at the finish, his time of 14.17 was only good enough for fourth.

Daniel Oss (BMC) looked like he would be a threat to Westra but despite sprinting hard to the line, he had to settle for third with 14.13. The first rider in GC contention, Michael Mørkøv (Katusha), had a poor ride and was outside the top 10 with 14.37. Instead, it was van Emden who lived up to his favourite status by crushing the opposition, stopping the clock in 13.51 and going 18 seconds faster than Westra.

Near-miss for Quinziato

Michael Schär (BMC) lost ground in the GC battle as he could only manage 14.38 before Dmitriy Gruzdev (Astana) delivered a great ride. The Kazakh stopped the clock in 14.06 which saw him slot into second.

Sven Erik Bystrøm (Katusha) did his best to defend his white jersey by posting a time of 14.25 which was good enough for 10th. That allowed him to provisionally lead the race overall but he quickly lost  that position when Manuel Quinziato (BMC) delivered a great ride to slot into second with 13.55.

Boasson Hagen in a class of his own

Quinziato had barely finished his ride before Boasson Hagen could be spotted on the finishing straigjt. Having caught two riders along the way and posted a time at the time check that was 13 seconds faster than van Emden’s, he sprinted across the line in 13.26 to shave a massive 25 seconds off the best time.

Søren Kragh Andersen (Giant-Alpecin) bounced back from his crash in stage 2 with a very fine time of 14.11 which was enough for seventh. Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) had been very fast at the intermediate check but lost a bit of ground in the final part before stopping the clock in 13.58 to slot into fourth.

Boasson Hagen was eagerly awaiting the arrival of Kristoff and Cavendish and he could make a sigh of relief when Kristoff could only manage 14.24 for 14th place. The Brit did much better with 14.10 which allowed him to finish the stage in seventh but he still had to hand over the leader’s jersey to his Norwegian teammate.