It was Boasson Hagen's fourth national TT title in a row, beating Uno-X's Andreas Leknessund by just seven seconds, and Team Joker Icopal's Kristoffer Skjerping by 1:09.
The 31-year-old Norwegian will now wear the iconic national jersey at the Tour de France, starting on July 7, and will be hoping to put it to good use as soon as stage 3, when the race features a 35.5km team time trial around Cholet.
Nippo-Vini Fantini's Grosu wins Romanian time trial title
Eduard Grosu (Nippo-Vini Fantini) won the Romanian time trial title for the second year in a row and for the third time in his career on Friday.
Grosu covered the course in a winning time of 39:09, with 17 second faster than runner-up.
"A daily race marked by rain, with 30 seconds delayed start, with 15km of false flat, hill and downhill, I had to risk a little in downhill but I had a good margin in the first part that I could handle in the second. I’m really happy for the victory, wearing the flag of my country when I race is always beautiful. In time trial I have the opportunity to continue to wear it, waiting to see how the next road championship will end," Grosu said.
Grosu will compete in the championship road race on Sunday.
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Aevolo's Gage Hecht holds his own at US national TT champs
Aevolo's Gage Hecht put in a mature performance to take fifth place at the US time trial national championships in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Thursday, improving greatly on his 18th place of a year ago.
The 20-year-old came home two minutes down on defending champion Joey Rosskopf (BMC Racing), finishing behind second-placed Chad Haga (Sunweb), Rosskopf's teammate Brent Bookwalter, and 24 seconds down on fourth-placed Larry Warbasse (Aqua Blue Sport), who will defend his road-race title on Sunday.
"Today well-surpassed my expectations," said Hecht on his team's website. "I came in with a goal of finishing top-15, so I was shocked that my time stood to finish in fifth. I am so thankful for the opportunity and the result. I want to thank everyone for the help and support."
Hecht's Aevolo team – the US Continental outfit run by former pro Mike Creed – also had U23 rider Laurent Gervais riding at the Canadian national time trial championships on Thursday, where he finished sixth.
"Coming out of Beauce, it was important for me to fully rest and recharge the battery before the TT," Gervais said. "Being long and hilly, it was really crucial to manage the effort, and overall the legs felt fine. Coming out sixth in the U23 field is okay. I'm satisfied."
Colorado Classic men's teams announced
The men's teams for the second edition of the Colorado Classic, running from August 16-19, have been announced.
Headlining the UCI 2.HC-ranked event are US-registered WorldTour teams Trek-Segafredo, EF Education First-Drapac, Australian team Mitchelton-Scott and LottoNL-Jumbo from the Netherlands.
The rest of the field is made up of UCI Pro Continental teams, including Rally Cycling and UnitedHealthcare, and UCI Continental teams, such as Silber Pro and Jelly Belly, as well as the Team Rwanda national squad.
The teams for the women's event will be announced next week.
Men's teams for the 2018 Colorado Classic: Trek-Segafredo, EF Education First-Drapac, Mitchelton-Scott, LottoNL-Jumbo, Rally Cycling, UnitedHealthcare, Holowesko-Citadel, Israel Cycling Academy, Hagens Berman Axeon, Elevate-KHS, Aevolo, 303 Project, Team Rwanda
Tour de France route preview – Podcast
With the Tour de France on the horizon and a volley of teams starting to announce their eight-man rosters for the race, Cyclingnews sits down with EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale’s Tom Southam to analyse and pick apart the race route in our latest podcast.
