Legoland can wait: Boasson Hagen family holiday nixed after late Tour call-up
Legoland can wait: Boasson Hagen family holiday nixed after late Tour call-up
Edvald Boasson Hagen is driving his wife and one-year-old child south from Oslo, Norway.
He grips the steering wheel, remembering the fact he wont be at the Tour de France this year, the first time in 10 years he’ll be doing something else these three weeks.
Boasson Hagen, his airline pilot wife, and one-year-old daughter are making their way to Sørlandet, the region along Norway’s southern coast. They will also take a trip over the border to Denmark to visit the Legoland theme park in Billund. They will visually sample the meticulously crafted model villages and they will smile.
“It’s a bit awkward,” Boasson Hagen had told Norway’s TV2 on not being selected for the Tour by his team TotalEnergies, “since I feel in good shape.”
On the Sunday night the week before the Tour starts, Boasson Hagen is told he is the first-reserve for the eight-man squad.
On Monday afternoon, the Tour is announced and the timeline of events listed out above are set to occur. That is until a message comes through on his phone. He hasn’t been taken out of the Tour squad. Another message. He is now definitely going to the Tour de France.
On Monday night the bags are un-packed and then re-packed for Edvald only and the family holiday is cancelled. On Tuesday, Boasson Hagen is already on a plane to Copenhagen to make his 11th Tour start, the most of any Norwegian rider in history.
“It was like a roller coaster,” says Boasson-Hagen, perhaps still pondering the abandoned Legoland trip.
“I’m a little unsure what the reason is,” the 35-year-old adds, not yet possessing the knowledge that his Spanish teammate Cristián Rodiguez had tested positive for Covid-19. “But as long as I got the good news, I’m happy.”
“We’ll go to Legoland another time.”
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