The end to an extremely successful career for
Edvald Boasson Hagen. After impressive 17 seasons spent racing among pros, the 37-year-old will hang up his racing bike at the end of this season.
The best period of Boasson Hagen's career came between the years 2009 and 2012 during which he had won 33 times, with very impressive 13 notches in 2009. But the perhaps greatest success passed Boasson Hagen in 2012 when he finished second at the World Championships in Limburg, coming short against another star at the time - Philippe Gilbert.
Thus the career highlight of the Norwegian rider are three stage victories at the Tour de France, two at a career high in 2011 and one more strike came during Boasson Hagen's last "big year" in 2017. Besides his other big victories such as Gent-Wevelgem 2009 or Bretagne Classic 2012, Boasson Hagen had also become thirteen-time elite Norwegian champion. Ten of those titles against the clock(!). That surprised me a bit, remembering Boasson Hagen mainly for his sprinting prowess.
Boasson Hagen turned professional with Team Columbia (later known as HTC) in 2008. His 2009 performances earned him a contract at the rising Team Sky, where he spent the best years of his career. In 2015, Boasson Hagen joined forces with Doug Ryder's MTN project, which saw him rise to the top once again.
After the 2017 season, the Norwegian's career had a slightly downward trajectory. Despite 81 professional victories, his last chance to raise hands was at the 2019 Critérium du Dauphiné.
For the last years, he's joined the French PRT team TotalEnergies, where he briefly joined forces with his former rival Peter Sagan, and where he had his last shot at Tour stage win during the cobbled fifth stage to Wallers-Arenberg, however Simon Clarke and Taco van der Hoorn were stronger in the final sprint.
Boasson Hagen spent his last professional season with Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale and, for one of the most respected riders in the peloton who started his career in a small Norwegian formation Maxbo - Bianchi next to Alexander Kristoff, it's going to be a rather silent farewell...
Thanks for a great career, Edvald!
