Edvald Boasson Hagen received an early birthday present when powering to victory in the seventh stage of the Giro d'Italia.
Norwegian wins seventh stage after late five-man escape
Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen received an early birthday present when powering to victory in the seventh stage of the Giro d'Italia.
The Team Columbia rider, who turns 22 on Sunday, pulled away in the final straight to win the Innsbruck to Chiavenna stage.
The in-form rider's victory came just 24 hours after he came second behind Michele Scarponi in the sixth stage.
He was part of a five-man escape - including Robert Hunter, Pavel Brutt, Davide Vigano and Alessandro Bertolini - which broke away coming off the Passo Maloja climb towards the end of the race.
Bertolini made a break and established a one-minute lead on the nerve-wracking descent towards Chiavenna but was reined in before Hagen just stole it ahead of Brutt.
Earlier, four riders - Mauro Facci, Bartosz Huzarski, Serguei Klimov and Vladimir Isaichev - made a move just outside Innsbruck.
They raced nine minutes clear by the 24km mark and held on until the final climb as the rain made the conditions increasingly treacherous.
LPR's Danilo Di Luca, the 2007 champion, retained the leader's pink jersey, with organisers deciding to take the times for the overall standings with three kilometres to go to avoid a dangerous climax to the stage in the wet conditions.
Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong and his team-mates started the stage with new shirts and the name of key sponsor, Astana, virtually blocked out.
Currently one of the most successful teams in the peloton, Astana face an uncertain future following reports their Kazakh sponsors have failed to pay team wages several times this year.
Stage seven result:1. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway / Columbia) 5hrs 56mins 53secs
2. Robert Hunter (South Africa / Barloworld) ST
3. Pavel Brutt (Russia / Katusha)
4. Davide Vigano (Italy / Fuji)
5. Alessandro Bertolini (Italy / Diquigiovanni)
6. Andriy Grivko (Ukraine / Team ISD) +31"
7. Matthew Goss (Australia / Saxo Bank) +40"
8 Allan Davis (Australia / Quick-Step)
