Thor hushovd biography

Norwegian cyclist

Hushovd at the Tour of California
Full&#;name	Thor Hushovd
Nickname	The God of Thunder The Bull from Grimstad
Born	() 18 January (age&#;47) Grimstad, Norway
Height	&#;m (6&#;ft 0&#;in)
Weight	79&#;kg (&#;lb)
Current&#;team	Uno-X Mobility
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider (retired) General Manager
Rider&#;type	Sprinter Classic specialist
–	Crédit Agricole
–	Cervélo TestTeam
	Garmin–Cervélo
–	BMC Racing Team
	Uno-X Mobility
Grand Tours Tour de France Points classification (, ) 10 individual stages (, , –) 2 TTT stages (, ) Giro d'Italia 1 individual stage () Vuelta a España Points classification () 3 individual stages (, , ) Single-day races and Classics World Road Race Championships () National Road Race Championships (, , ) National Time Trial Championships (, , ) Gent–Wevelgem () Omloop Het Nieuwsblad ()

Thor Hushovd (born 18 January ) is a Norwegian former professional road bicycle racer.^[1] He is known for sprinting and time trialing; Hushovd is a three-time Norwegian national road race champion (, , ),^[2] and was the winner of the World Road Race Championships.

He was the first Norwegian to lead the Tour de France, and first Scandinavian to win the road race in cycling world road championship.

Thor hushovd helmet

Thor hushovd injured

Thor hushovd bike spec

He is also the Scandinavian with the most stage wins in Grand Tours. He is widely considered the greatest Norwegian cyclist of all time. He retired in September ^[3]

Career

Born in Grimstad, Aust-Agder, Norway, Thor won the under time trial world championship and the under versions of Paris–Roubaix and Paris–Tours before turning professional in He was Norwegian time trial champion in and and road race champion in and In , he won seven UCI ProTour races and two stages of the Tour de France.

He won the prologue in Strasbourg and led after the first day despite a cut arm. He continued with stitches and regained the yellow jersey after stage 2 with a third place. He won the last stage, beating Robbie McEwen in a sprint, thus making him the only person to win the first stage or prologue and the last stage of the Tour de France in the same year.

Thor hushovd helmet: Poengkonkurransen 3 etappeseire. Retrieved 17 October Retrieved 30 August External links [ edit ].

In the Vuelta a España he won stage 6, wore the golden jersey for three stages and won the points classification

At the Tour de France, Hushovd won stage 2 in a bunch finish.^[4]

In , Hushovd rode for the Cervélo TestTeam.^[5] He took one of the team's first victories of the season by winning Stage 3 of the Tour of California.

At the Tour de France, he won green jersey for the points classification for the second time, ahead of Mark Cavendish. Typically the sprinter with the most stage victories wins the points classification, though Thor only won one stage, stage 6, while Cavendish won six. After a controversy on stage 14, where Cavendish was relegated to the back of the peloton for impeding Hushovd, Hushovd attacked alone on stage 17, a mountain stage, winning two intermediate sprints.^[6][7] Hushovd won stage 3 at the Tour of Missouri – &#;mi (&#;km) over rolling hills – in September , in a sprint finish.

On 9 May , Hushovd broke his collarbone on a training ride after colliding with a young girl.^[8] At the Tour de France, Hushovd won the third stage, which was an unusual one for the Tour since it featured 13&#;km (&#;mi) of cobblestones. He prevailed in the sprint involving five other riders.^[9] That victory netted him the Green jersey, but he ultimately lost it to Alessandro Petacchi of the Lampre–Farnese Vini team.

On 3 October , Thor won the road world championship, which started in Melbourne and finished in Geelong, Australia. He was the first Norwegian to win the rainbow jersey.^[10][11]VeloNews said: "Hushovddominated a bunch sprint at the end of a thrilling &#;km race, beating Denmark's Matti Breschel and Australia's Allan Davis." The favorite, Philippe Gilbert, was caught with three kilometers to go.^[12]

During the Tour de France Hushovd took the lead in the general classification and surprised many by keeping it through several hilly stages that were not expected to suit him and second placed Cadel Evans could not over turn the 1 second advantage that Hushovd held.

Thor surprised his fans again on stage 13 by being one of the first riders over the hors catégorie Col d'Aubisque and using his superior descending skills (he was clocked at 69&#;mph at one point) to catch and pass the leaders David Moncoutié and Jérémy Roy to take the stage. He used his descending skills again on stage 16 when he, Edvald Boasson Hagen and teammate Ryder Hesjedal went clear on the descent of the Col de Manse (a descent that overall runner up Andy Schleck deemed too dangerous for the tour) and beat Boasson Hagen in the final sprint to take his second stage of the tour.

In , Hushovd joined BMC Racing Team on a three-year contract.^[13] Suffering from a then unknown medical condition, he had to abandon the Giro d'Italia and cancelled his scheduled participation to the Tour de France and Olympic road race.^[14] The medical impairment was later identified as a "virus and muscle inflammation" by team doctors.^[15] Thor hardly achieved any notable result in the season except fourteenth at Paris–Roubaix.

In October, he said that he hoped to put the bad year and the virus that ruined it behind him and that he was optimistic and motivated about the season.^[16]

Hushovd earned his first win since the Tour of Britain with a sprint victory over Tom-Jelte Slagter of Blanco Pro Cycling on stage 1 of the Tour du Haut Var in February.

It was also his first victory with BMC Racing Team.^[17]

Retirement

In June , Hushovd announced that he would retire after the UCI Road World Championships after struggling with Infectious mononucleosis since ^[18][19] However, after a hard crash suffered at the Tour du Poitou-Charentes, Hushovd said he would not participate in the World Championships.^[20] His last race was the GP Impanis-Van Petegem in September.^[3]

In Thor announced that he had started working on organizing an all-Norwegian UCI WorldTeam, with a plan to launch in the season to coincide with the hosting of the UCI Road World Championships in the Norwegian city of Bergen.^[21] The plans were put on hold due to lack of funding,^[22] although Hushovd never abandoned them.^[23]

In the meantime, the Norwegian cycling team Uno-X was established.

The team achieved UCI ProTeam status in Hushovd was initially not affiliated with Uno-X, although he used his legendary status in the world of cycling to help influence the ASO in Uno-X's mission for a Wild Card to the Tour de France.^[24] In January , Uno-X announced that Hushovd would become their new General Manager.^[25]

Personal life

Thor currently resides in Monte Carlo, Monaco,^[26][27] with his wife Susanne,^[28] and their daughter Isabel (b.

).^[29] The Hushovds also maintain an offseason residency in Grimstad, Aust-Agder, Norway.^[30]

Career achievements

Major results

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Classics results timeline

Major championships timeline

—	Did not compete
DNF	Did not finish

References

External links