The final Tour of Norway stage would be a wet and tough 175km affair. A hard 12km circuit would be completed 3 times to end of the race and it was the late breakaway rider, Andreas Vangstad (Sparebanken Sor) who would come out on top.
As Vangstad was not a threat to the GC riders, when the main group come home just 14" later it meant Jesper Hansen (Tinkoff-Saxo) would win the Tour of Norway overall while Edvald Boasson Hagen was able to secure 2nd overall for the African Team.
The final stage saw an 8 rider break go clear in the early stages and they were held to a 2'30" gap for most of the stage. The tough finishing circuit took its toll on the leaders though and the lead group slowly started to disintegrate. Vangstad would attack from the peloton with 17km to go, the Norwegian would catch the remnants of the break and push on into the race lead.
By the final stages of the race the peloton was also greatly reduced and the lone leader was still ahead by 30" with 3km to go. Boasson Hagen put in a big attack at 2km to go but when the road leveled out for the final 1km, there was a general regrouping in the main group. Frederik Galta (Coop-Osterhus) was 2nd across the line, Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) was 3rd while Boasson Hagen rolled in in 17th place.
“It was the final day today but it definitely wasn't an easy one. We had some really bad weather conditions for the final 60km with cold and rain. The final circuit was also a difficult one and only a small group made it to the finish together. We wanted to wait for the final climb and try with Edvald. The rest of the team supported him until then and he tried but everyone was looking at him to make the move. 2nd overall on GC is a good result for the team and for Edvald in his comeback. The team worked fantastically during the entire race and I want to thank all the boys for their great effort throughout the race,” sports director Alex Sans Vega said.
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