The Tour of Norway gets underway today, 18th of May and will conclude after 5 stages, finishing on Sunday 22nd of May. Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka will be on the start line with intentions of winning the race overall. 

The African Team will be led by Edvald Boasson Hagen who returns to racing after a short break following his Spring Classics campaign. Last year Boasson Hagen finished 2nd overall in his home country tour and this year he will aim for one step higher on the podium.

With most of the stages suiting strong punchy riders, Boasson Hagen will certainly be one of the favourites but no doubt, the Norwegian Champion will also be a marked man. Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka will send a strong team to support Boasson Hagen though and so the African Team will be up for all the challenges they are faced with.

Boasson Hagen will be a able to count on a quartet of African Riders to support him as Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, Natnael Berhane, Adrien Niyonshuti and Youcef Reguigui all start the Norwegian UCI 2.HC event.

Sports director Oli Cookson said:

"We are looking forward to racing at the Tour of Norway and we are ready for a tough race in this beautiful country. The motivated team of riders will be structured around supporting Edvald 100%. In general the race will be hard to control with less riders in each team (than usual) and taking into account the challenging terrain Norway has to offer."