Norwegian champion Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) (Image credit: Sirotti)

Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) put in a beautifully timed effort to win the GP Plouay, soloing to the line over Rui Costa (Movistar) with Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Sharp) winning the bunch sprint just behind.

It was the Norwegian's first victory since he claimed his national road race title in June.

Boasson Hagen jumped across to an attack by Costa and then surged away just before the crest of the final climb with 1km to go and powered to the victory on the quick descent to the finish line.

"I'm really happy with that and it was nice to get the win today. The team did a really good job to keep me up there all day and heading into the finish," Boasson Hagen said on TeamSky.com.

"I was riding a lot in the bunch with Thomas and Christian who helped me out a lot. I felt good when I jumped clear and I felt confident that I could take the win.

"The whole team did lots of pulling on the front during the day so it was great to be able to finish it off. It has been quite a while since my last victory so it was nice to see the form is good. Hopefully it can continue."

The race organisers tested out a new, longer circuit for this year's event, with nine laps of a 27km loop that incorporated three significant climbs.

The breakaway of the day included five riders: Dries Devenyns (Omega Pharma-Quickstep), Marcus Burghardt (BMC), Aleksandr Kuschynski (Katusha), Sebastien Duret (Bretagne-Schuller) and Rein Taaramae (Cofidis), who persisted until just before the final lap with 30km to go.

Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) counter-attacked the move and was joined by four other riders, but the peloton was all back together by the base of the Cote de Ty-Marrec, the final climb.

Costa put in his move on the climb and Simon Gerrans (Orica-AIS) tried to stay with the Portuguese rider, but went backwards on the climb. Before the top, Boasson Hagen was able to go across to him and then push ahead for the victory.

"It was a really impressive win from Eddy," said Sky directeur sportif Sean Yates. "He bridged out of the group across to Rui Costa and went straight past him. He was unstoppable!

"It was a hard race in the latter stages and that meant there was no one dominant team. It was every man for himself. I told the guys 'if you feel good don't be scared to have a go and don't let the race slip away.' No one was capable of controlling moves or bringing them back. Eddy took his chance and reaped the benefits."

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