Boasson Hagen takes stage victory

Boasson Hagen (left) out-sprinted Michele Merlo of Barloworld

Edvald Boasson Hagen gave a taste of what he will offer British fans next season as he sprinted for victory in stage three of the Tour of Britain.

Norwegian Boasson Hagen, 22, held off Michele Merlo of Barloworld and stage one winner Chris Sutton of Garmin to take his first win in this year's race.

Currently riding for Columbia-HTC, he has already agreed to join the British-based Team Sky next season.

He moved up to second in the overall standings, 11 seconds behind Kai Reus.

Reus retains the yellow jersey for Tuesday's fourth stage, a 148km route starting and finishing in Blackpool, including three big climbs.

606: COMMENT This will be my fifth Tour of Britain, which makes me feel old! Each year, the quality of riders and racing has got better GB star Geraint Thomas

Boasson Hagen, who won three stages of the race last season, benefited from the help of his team, who set up Mark Cavendish for six stage victories in the Tour de France in July.

"It was really great last year and I was hoping to win a stage, so it's really good that I made it," he said.

A four-rider breakaway was caught 15km from the end of the 153.8km stage through the Scottish borders.

And a late attack from Agritubel's Emilien Berges was also swept up by the peloton to set up another sprint finish.

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Stage 2 results:

1 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor/Columbia-HTC) 3 hours 38 minutes 1 second

2 Michel Merlo (Ita/Barloworld) same time

3 Chris Sutton (Aus/Garmin-Slipstream) same time

4 Danilo Napolitano (Ita/Katusha) same time

5 Davide Appollonio (Ita/Cervelo) same time

Selected others:

6 Russell Downing (GB/Candi-TV) same time

10 Geraint Thomas (GB/Barloworld) same time

93 Bradley Wiggins (GB/Garmin-Slipstream) +51"

Overall classification:

1 Kai Reus, (Ned/Rabobank) 11 hours 24 minutes 15 seconds

2 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor/Columbia-HTC) +11 sec

3 Chris Sutton (Aus/Garmin-Slipstream) +12 sec

4 Michel Merlo (Ita/Barloworld) +14 sec

5 Martin Reimer (Ger/Cervelo) +17 sec

Selected others:

8 Russell Downing (GB/Candi-TV) +25 sec

26 Geraint Thomas (GB/Barloworld) +25 sec

87 Bradley Wiggins (GB/Garmin-Slipstream) +1'28

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