Thor “God of Thunder” Hushovd let fly with a lightning-bolt finish in Stage Four of the 2011 Tour de Suisse, his first race win since earning the rainbow-striped World Champion’s jersey in October 2010.
“I think it is a dream of every rider to race for this beautiful jersey and to get a photo winning [wearing it,]” The Garmin-Cervelo rider told versus after the race. “It’s really goods. I am happy and proud today. “
Hushovd needed brains and brawn to take the win. “Of course you have to make the right decisions in the sprint,” he said. “Today I had really good legs so it was a mix of both of them.”
Stage Four was one of the few sprint stages—actually not a true sprinters’ stage, buy this year’s Tour de Suisse is so mountainous, the teams have to make the most of what they get.
The stage presented 195 km of ripples and bumps, with a Cat Two climb in the first third. The stage ended with two laps around the city of Hutwill, which included a Cat Three hill, climbed twice. The final two kilometers sloped uphill at three percent—all of which added up to an energy drain, sapping the legs of the pure sprinters.
This stage was best suited to the power sprinters like Oscar Freire, Tom Boonen, or Thor Hushovd, who hadn’t won a race since winning the World Champion’s rainbow jersey.
As usual, a breakaway formed early; Lloyd Mondory from AG2R, Sylvain Chavanel from Quick Step and Cesare Benedetti from NetApp took off in the first 15 km, and stayed away until the second lap of Huttwill. Sadly, the break was doomed before it started; with only three sprint stages in the Tour, the sprinters’ teams were not about to let a few riders spoil their race.
The peloton loafed a bit on its first lap around Huttwill, watching the road and planning strategy. The second lap was very fast; teams without strong sprinters wanted to tire the opposition’s big guns, and everyone wanted to stifle breakaways.
The pace proved too much for Mark Cavendish. The Fastest Man in the World sat up with 7.6 km to go, admitting he couldn’t hang with the leaders. He will have only two more stages to try for a win.
His inability to keep the pace might indicate that he has some hard work to do before the Tour de France, where stage wins is all he will care about. He can’t win a sprint if he can’t stay near the front.
The high pace had discouraged most of the sprinters, not just Cavendish, and as the finish approached, their teams were too scattered through the peloton to make it to the front to organize.
After a few small attacks were launched and caught in the final 15 km. Jens Voigt made a notable effort 4.3 km from the end, but was ridden down in 2.5 km. Voigt didn’t succeed, but the effort needed to catch him drained the teams which had hoped to control the finish.
Leopard-Trek’s Stuart O’Grady, seeing the confusion at the front, made a good effort in the final kilometer, but the peloton rode him down at the 400-meter mark.
A hundred meters later Peter saga of Liquigas, fresh off a win in the mountains the day before, showed his amazing range by bursting out of the field to challenge for a second stage win. Right on his wheel was Thor Hushovd of Garmin-Cervelo. Hushovd waited until the final hundred meters, then swung left and beat the Slovakian rider to the line by half a bike-length.
Hushovd’s perfectly-timed sprint broke the “Rainbow Jersey Curse;” many world champions have had terrible seasons after winning the rainbow jersey. Hushovd was no doubt relieved to get his first win of 2011.
Stage Five is more of a pure sprinters’ stage, though it too has some lumps to challenge their legs. Then the Tour heads to the Alps for a pair of punishing mountaintop finishes. Stage Eight will be another flat stage, followed by the final time trial which could decide the overall winner.
“I think it is a dream of every rider to race for this beautiful jersey and to get a photo winning [wearing it,]” The Garmin-Cervelo rider told versus after the race. “It’s really goods. I am happy and proud today. “
Hushovd needed brains and brawn to take the win. “Of course you have to make the right decisions in the sprint,” he said. “Today I had really good legs so it was a mix of both of them.”
Stage Four was one of the few sprint stages—actually not a true sprinters’ stage, buy this year’s Tour de Suisse is so mountainous, the teams have to make the most of what they get.
The stage presented 195 km of ripples and bumps, with a Cat Two climb in the first third. The stage ended with two laps around the city of Hutwill, which included a Cat Three hill, climbed twice. The final two kilometers sloped uphill at three percent—all of which added up to an energy drain, sapping the legs of the pure sprinters.
This stage was best suited to the power sprinters like Oscar Freire, Tom Boonen, or Thor Hushovd, who hadn’t won a race since winning the World Champion’s rainbow jersey.
As usual, a breakaway formed early; Lloyd Mondory from AG2R, Sylvain Chavanel from Quick Step and Cesare Benedetti from NetApp took off in the first 15 km, and stayed away until the second lap of Huttwill. Sadly, the break was doomed before it started; with only three sprint stages in the Tour, the sprinters’ teams were not about to let a few riders spoil their race.
The peloton loafed a bit on its first lap around Huttwill, watching the road and planning strategy. The second lap was very fast; teams without strong sprinters wanted to tire the opposition’s big guns, and everyone wanted to stifle breakaways.
The pace proved too much for Mark Cavendish. The Fastest Man in the World sat up with 7.6 km to go, admitting he couldn’t hang with the leaders. He will have only two more stages to try for a win.
His inability to keep the pace might indicate that he has some hard work to do before the Tour de France, where stage wins is all he will care about. He can’t win a sprint if he can’t stay near the front.
The high pace had discouraged most of the sprinters, not just Cavendish, and as the finish approached, their teams were too scattered through the peloton to make it to the front to organize.
After a few small attacks were launched and caught in the final 15 km. Jens Voigt made a notable effort 4.3 km from the end, but was ridden down in 2.5 km. Voigt didn’t succeed, but the effort needed to catch him drained the teams which had hoped to control the finish.
Leopard-Trek’s Stuart O’Grady, seeing the confusion at the front, made a good effort in the final kilometer, but the peloton rode him down at the 400-meter mark.
A hundred meters later Peter saga of Liquigas, fresh off a win in the mountains the day before, showed his amazing range by bursting out of the field to challenge for a second stage win. Right on his wheel was Thor Hushovd of Garmin-Cervelo. Hushovd waited until the final hundred meters, then swung left and beat the Slovakian rider to the line by half a bike-length.
Hushovd’s perfectly-timed sprint broke the “Rainbow Jersey Curse;” many world champions have had terrible seasons after winning the rainbow jersey. Hushovd was no doubt relieved to get his first win of 2011.
Stage Five is more of a pure sprinters’ stage, though it too has some lumps to challenge their legs. Then the Tour heads to the Alps for a pair of punishing mountaintop finishes. Stage Eight will be another flat stage, followed by the final time trial which could decide the overall winner.
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