A chance meeting with Edvald Boasson Hagen’s parents.

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A chance meeting with Edvald Boasson Hagen’s parents.

Mom and dad.

Crazy things are a daily occurrence in the Tour de France, good, bad, strange and unexpected.

What are the chances of running into the parents of Team Sky’s Evald Boasson Hagen in a bar restaurant about 40 kilometers out of the finish town of Gap? When I say out, I mean way out and up in the cols, in fact I could barely find the place because we arrived the night before at 10pm in this village hidden in Haute Provence.

This morning we dropped down 1ok into the nearest place that had cafe au lait and set up shop on the patio. James Raia of Versus and I were chatting about the tour when the woman next to us asked if we were following it. Yeah, kinda, sorta in an addicted way.

She then dropped that her son was riding in the tour. Big pause while we contemplated our good fortune and potential nifty scoop. And who might that be? Edvald, that’s who.

Not to get all gossip columnist but Singe and her husband Odd-Erik, who came in later — were charming. They said that Edvald was a skilled mountain biker as early as age eight. The also told us he has yet to crash in the Tour de France.

Given that Bradley Wiggins and Team Sky have given up on a shot at the podium and are now shifting gears for stage wins, a healthy and unscarred Boassen Hagen would be the new priority.

Maybe we could have gotten his non-injury report from the Sky director sportif. But it means much more when it comes from mom.

By |2019-02-03T16:25:53-08:00July 15th, 2010|Sky, Tour de France|5 Comments

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5 Comments

  1. marinpaul July 16, 2010 at 12:16 am - Reply

    Bon chance, Matt!!

  2. robert July 16, 2010 at 12:45 am - Reply

    Very cool happenstance! But is Raia w/ Versus? I thought he was examiner.com? Here he criticizes Versus' Liggett and Sherwen – http://www.examiner.com/x-1155-Cycling-Examiner~y

    • walshworld July 18, 2010 at 5:33 am - Reply

      James works for both. He's a hard working guy.

  3. […] own limited exposure to Boasson Hagen was meeting his parents by astounding unlikely circumstance during the Tour de France. It’s one of our enduring […]

  4. […] Our feeling about Boassen Hagen has been the same since his career stagnated at Sky. He didn’t fit in with the business attitude and sports science worship at Sky. After a fast start, his results gradually fell off until it was time for greener, less data-driven pastures. (Thought we did enjoy meeting his parents at the 2010 Tour.) […]

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