EDVALD BOASSON HAGEN

Dimension Data rider Edvald Boasson Hagen is a living example of the e"fect expectations have on perception. He was a precocious talent – at just 19, in 2006, he came second in the Norwegian road race champs and won three Tour de l’Avenir stages. The following year, he won both stages of ParisCorrèze, along with the GC. When he signed for Columbia in 2008, he won a ProTour race in his "irst season – a stage of the Eneco Tour – then Gent Wevelgem the following spring. Comparisons were drawn with Eddy Merckx, thanks to the fact they have similar forenames. Boasson Hagen was going to be the next big thing.

The fact that he wasn’t has led to the reputation of a wasted talent. He’s won a couple of Tour stages along the way, both in 2011, a few big one-day races, such as Vattenfall Cyclassics in 2011 and GP Plouay in 2013, and the GC of some of the less mountainous week-long stage races – the Eneco Tour in 2009 and 2011 and the Tour of Britain in 2009 and 2015. But he never broke through in the Grand Tours and Gent-Wevelgem remains his only Classic win. He could have done more, was the general perception. But Boasson Hagen, who has just turned 30, has achieved 66 career wins, which is more than all but the best sprinters in the world. He’s capable of high "inishes in both hilly and cobbled Classics, in Grand Tour stages and in the GC of any nonmountainous stage race. That versatility has brought him a lot of wins and placings. But it has also made life complicated. It’s easy to be good at one thing in cycling – any specialist, whether climber, time triallist or sprinter, is evidence of that. But being good at lots of things means placings across the board, and in the case of Edvald Boasson Hagen, a perception that a rider is underachieving, even though it’s an unfair one.

His versatility has brought him a lot of wins and placings, but it has also made life complicated