By Susan Westemeyer
Edwald Boasson Hagen has signed a two-year contract with T-Mobile starting next season, the 20-year-old Norwegian announced Friday at a press conference in Oslo.
"I am really delighted that beginning next year I will be part of such a professional environment," he said, according to the team's website, t-mobile-team.com. "The talks I had with Luuc Eisenga and Rolf Aldag gave me a very positive impression of the T-Mobile Team and the team environment, and that was reinforced by my experience at a team training camp in Germany in March. That is why I decided that T-Mobile was the team for me."
The classics specialist now rides for the Norwegian Continental team Maxbo-Bianchi. Last year he won three stages of the U23 Tour de L'Avenir and two stages of the U23 Thuringer Rundfahrt.
"He fits perfectly with our goal of focusing on young and talented athletes," said T-Mobile team manager Bob Stapleton. "We believe that he has the mental and physical qualities to be very successful in cycling, and we can offer him the best possible environment for his development."
