Tour of Norway #2: Boasson Hagen keeps overall lead after new podium performance

Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka did well to defend Edvald Boasson Hagen’s leader’s jersey on stage 2 of Tour of Norway. In the sprint, the Norwegian champion finished third and thereby increased his lead in the general classification.

Today’s 194 km long stage from Eidsvoll to Brumunddal took place in horrible weather conditions. Only three riders dared to break away from the peloton and the pack made sure the trio never got too much of a gap. Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka controlled the situation perfectly and with 22 km left to go, it all came back together again.

As the riders headed into the expected bunch, Lotto-NL Jumbo took the front and delivered their sprinter, Dylan Groenewegen to victory, while Boasson Hagen made podium and got additional bonus seconds for the GC. He now leads with eight seconds down to Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto-Soudal) and 10 seconds to Simon Gerrans (Orica-Scott).

Alex Sans Vega – sports director:
“We controlled the whole stage and kept the breakaway within reach. Towards the end, Lotto-NL Jumbo started working as well and we made sure Edvald [Boasson Hagen] was in a good position and didn’t lose any time. At the end, Edvald finished third and got a few more bonus seconds, which usually are very important in this race. Tomorrow is a very hard stage, which will decide the GC. We are looking forward to it and we will try our best”.

Team Dimension Data For Qhubeka

Founded in 2007, Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka became the first ever African cycling team to gain a WorldTour license, in 2016. In the team’s palmares you can find a Milan-Sanremo victory, numerous stage wins at the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana, two Tour of Britain GC victories, and 36 National Championships. The team has bases in South Africa, the Netherlands and Italy. It’s also known as Africa’s Team due to its focus on helping African talents to the world stage of cycling. The team races to raise funds for the Qhubeka Charity to change lives with bicycles in Africa. #DoYourPart and gift a bicycle or part of a bicycle, by clicking here.

Qhubeka is an Nguni word that means “to progress”, “to move forward”. Qhubeka (qhubeka.org) partners with communities, public sector, private sector, and non-profit organisations to provide people with bicycles in return for working to improve their community, environment or school attendance.

Dimension Data (dimensiondata.com) uses the power of technology to help organisations achieve great things in the digital era. As a member of the NTT Group, we accelerate our clients’ ambitions through digital infrastructure, hybrid cloud, workspaces for tomorrow, and cybersecurity. With a turnover of USD 7.5 billion, offices in 58 countries, and 31,000 employees, we deliver wherever our clients are, at every stage of their technology journey. We’re proud to be the Official Technology Partner of Amaury Sport Organisation, organiser of the Tour de France, and the title partner of the cycling team, Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka.

Learn more about the team at www.africasteam.com.

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