Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) powered his way to the top of the podium once again today, with the Norwegian taking victory in stage one of the Bayern-Rundfahrt. Second place on the day went to German Andre Schulze of the CCC Polsat-Polkowice squad, while third went to Heinrich Haussler, who recently returned to racing after a lack of base miles due to injury last year derailed his spring Classics campaign.
The peloton’s 223.2 kilometer journey from Pfarrkirchen to Freystadt represented the longest stage in the history of the Bayern-Rundfahrt. The day revolved around a breakaway of five, who built up a maximum lead of 8 minutes and 15 seconds over the peloton before they hit the two categorized climbs of the day.
Once the road tilted up towards the last third of the stage, the escape, which contained Maxime Bouet (AG2R La Mondiale), Sander Armee (Topsport Vlaanderen), Jaroslav Marycz (Saxo Bank-SunGard), Markus Eichler (Team NSP) and Fabian Wegmann (Leopard Trek), began the process of losing their sizable advantage.
Behind the sprinter’s teams pushed the pace as they entered the finishing circuits in Freystadt. The speed proved too much for Eichler as the escape rode hard towards the line, but the remaining four also caved to the pressure from the peloton, just a few kilometers short of their chance at glory. Boasson Hagen proved too fast for the others, crossing the line to finally open his account with a win in 2011.
Tomorrow’s stage two will take the riders 206.2 kilometers from Freystadt to Bad Gögging. There are two categorized climbs, one category one rated ascent 146.5 kilometers into the stage with a 22 percent maximum gradient, and the other a category two climb that presents itself 23 kilometers later.