Michael Barry expressed himself delighted with his comeback from injury at the Tour of Norway.

The experienced Canadian was returning to race action after three months out following a broken elbow and hip injury sustained in a crash on stage four of the Tour of Qatar.

But he made an immediate mark as he was part of an outstanding team display which helped Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen win his home race.

In a virtual clean sweep, Boasson Hagen also netted the points and young rider jerseys, team-mate Lars-Petter Nordhaug was third overall and the squad topped the team classification.

"It’s been a fantastic week," Barry told us. "It’s great to be back with everyone again and has been a whole lot of fun. Edvald obviously won the overall and all those jerseys but I think, within the team, the way that we rode together was excellent; we were always in control of the race."

Teamwork

That was evident throughout the five-stage race, with Barry adding: "We did fantastic lead-outs in the first couple of days and then the last two days we went in with a plan and executed it perfectly which was good to see.

"On the final stage we were in control of it the whole time. Luke [Rowe] and Mat [Hayman] pretty much rode from start to finish on the front, they were incredibly strong. [Ben] 'Swifty' had done a similar job the day before and then on the final lap, Salvatore [Puccio] and I kind of controlled things to the finish. So overall it was a really good week of racing and it’s always nice to be part of a team when everybody is working so well together."

Barry admitted that he'd longed to be part of the action again while working his way back to full fitness, explaining: "Watching the races on television back home, I was missing being with the team and you almost get a bit jealous that you are not there at the races.

"But I was training away and able to do some really consistent work. It meant I felt very good coming into the race and I was actually really comfortable on the climbs. So overall it was very encouraging as it’s my first race back and I should get better from here."

Next up for Barry is the Tour of Luxembourg at the end of May and he added: "Pretty much the same group other than Edvald will move onto that race so it's good we've had such a solid week to build from."