World Champion sees Gilbert as biggest threat during first week
Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervélo) explained how he’s been tired of finishing in Mark Cavendish’s (HTC-Highroad) shadow the past few years, which has forced him to refocus and work on developing his strengths. The World Champion and his coach Atli Kvålsvoll told Procycling.no that Cavendish is almost impossible to beat in a flat sprint. This has forced Hushovd to target races more specifically.
“There is a certain type of race I focuses on now, I ride when I know I can win. It was a bit like that on the stage in Spa during the Tour de France last year, the one I won in Spain in 2009 (Tour de France stage six) and in Switzerland (Tour de Suisse stage four this year),” says Hushovd.
The 33 year old is in his first year on Garmin-Cervélo and will go to the Tour de France with two objectives in the first week – to win stage one or six – and to wear the yellow jersey.
Of stage one Hushovd said, “The finish is not too steep, but it is not a finish that Cavendish can hang on to. It is more of a hill that suits Philippe Gilbert.”
His next goal will be stage six. It’s the longest stage of the race at 226.5 km with rolling hills all day before finishing on a 1.5km climb.
“I hope it is again a group of around 40-50 riders at this stage, and that I am among them,” he said.
Hushovd lives in Monaco and often trains with Gilbert, who is seen as the danger man for the first week of the race. The Norwegian explained how the two of them share information and how training with Gilbert on the hills is trying, but good for his fitness. His coach Kvålsvoll added in preparing for the Tour, “He has done a lot of long rides of 5-6 hours in the mountains near Monaco. These rides have been pretty hard.”
Kvålsvoll continued, “We agreed that it was hard to beat Cavendish on flat ground. It was something that suited Tyler Farrar better. So he (Hushovd) focused on becoming even better at hill sprints.”
Garmin-Cervélo is seen as one of the favourites for the team time trial on stage two. Should Hushovd win stage one on Saturday and the team do well in the time trial, on Sunday, it is likely that the Norwegian will swap his world championships jersey for the yellow one for several days. He has previously worn the leader’s yellow jersey during 2004 and 2006 and is the only Norwegian to ever do so.