Edvald Boasson Hagen cannot wait to get his first-ever Tour de France under way and is already targeting a stage victory for Team Sky.

Despite being just 23 years old, the Norwegian is no stranger to the podium having already achieved stage wins this season at the Tour of Oman, Tour of Qatar, Tirreno-Adriatico, and most recently the Critérium du Dauphiné.

And that palmarès could have been greater still had he not picked up an Achilles injury at Milan-San Remo which sidelined him for two months of the season. Now Boasson Hagen appears to be back stronger than ever though, and last month's victory at the Dauphiné showcased a near-perfect display of power and tactical finesse.

Ever modest though, when we caught up with him on his way down to the team's pre-Tour base in Belgium, he felt there was still room for improvement in the weeks to come.

He told us: "That stage win at the Dauphiné was really nice to get, but I feel my condition could have been better. Before that race I had not done much training, but this time I have and I definitely feel stronger now than I did then. If I can improve even further in the next three weeks then hopefully I can have some success.

"I would like to get at least one stage victory, but there are no stages which I will be targeting in particular, I'm just going to take things day by day. Obviously the main goal is to help Bradley achieve a podium position, and if he does that it will be great."

Boasson Hagen is already being tipped by many pundits to become a General Classification contender in the future, but the man himself is very relaxed about achieving such goals.

He added: "Maybe in the years to come it could be something which I could have a go at, but that's still a long time away and I'm not stressing about things like that right now. Again, I prefer to take things year-by-year, day-by-day.

"This is my first time at the Tour and I am going to be using it to gain some experience and see what it is like to ride. I am really relaxed about everything and am just trying to think of it as a normal race. Hopefully though, we will be able to achieve some success for the team."

Strong start

When Boasson Hagen lines up for the prologue on Saturday, he will be wearing the Norwegian time trial champion's jersey after claiming the title for the fourth time last week in Trondheim. Spurred on by that success, he will be looking to begin with a bang in Rotterdam:

"It's always an honour to put on the national jersey and I will certainly be trying my hardest to get off to a good start. I'd like to post a good time but there are a lot of other strong guys there so we will see how it goes."

And finally, Boasson Hagen feels teamwork will be vital if Bradley Wiggins is to stand a chance of achieving his bid of glory: "We have a really good group of guys here and I'm sure we will work really well as a team.

"Bradley is a lot more prepared this year than he was last time around so hopefully we can all do a good job and get him some success. I will try to help him out as much as I can, especially on the flats as I think it will be hard for me to stay with him in the high mountains."