Tour of Britain

19-09-2009 20:04:50

Team Columbia-HTC sealed overall victory at the Tour of Britain on Saturday when the race ended in the centre of London.  It was the team's 82nd win of the 2009 season.

Edvald Boasson Hagen finished safely in the peloton at the end of the final 92km stage. He won overall by 23 seconds after taking four of the eight stages. Australia's Chris Sutton finished second and Germany's Martin Reimer was third. Italy's Michele Merlo won the final stage in a sprint.

"It's really good to win this race after all the hard work by the team. I'm really happy for me and for them," Boasson Hagen said. "This is my second stage race win this year. I didn't expect to win four stages and so it's been a fantastic week. It was amazing to win in the centre of London because there were huge crowds."

Team Columbia-HTC sent a powerful squad to the Tour of Britain that included Thomas Lovkvist, Tony Martin, Kim Kirchen, Gert Dockx and Maxime Monfort. They sacrificed their chances to help Boasson Hagen win.

"It's been a great race for us with the stage victories and overall success," directeur sportif Valerio Piva said.  "All the guys worked hard to defend the lead and they are tired, but we deserved to win the race. I think it's fair to say we were the strongest team in the race."  

The Team Columbia-HTC riders will now focus on next week's world championships.