World champion number one in the eyes of his nation’s sports writers
Thor Hushovd (Cervélo TestTeam) took one of the easiest victories of his highly successful 2010 as he was voted Sportsperson of the Year by Norwegian sports journalists, according to dagbladet.no. The World champion polled more than double the votes of three-time Olympic gold medallist cross country skier Marit Bjørgen, who in turn was streets ahead of footballer Ståle Solbakken in third.
Hushovd’s year began strongly enough, taking second – his best ever result – in Paris-Roubaix, but his elusive first victory did not come along until the end of June when he took his second Norwegian champion’s jersey. He got to show that jersey off pretty quickly though, as he arrived at the finish of the Tour de France’s third stage, at the entrance to the Arenberg Forest, as part of a very select group; the sprint was a mere formality.
After a month off Hushovd returned to racing at the Vuelta a España to prepare for the World Championships. He won stage 6 into Murcia and then elected to abandon the race in the final week, to avoid the toughest of the mountain stages and to travel south to Australia.
His season was made though, when, on a course that everyone predicted would be far too tough for any of the sprinters, he burst from the pack to become the first Norwegian to take the men’s elite road World Championship title.
The only other cyclist to win the award was Olympic pursuit champion Knut Knutsen, who took the title in 1972 and 1973.
Norwegian Sportsperson of the Year 2010
1. Thor Hushovd (cycling) 122pts
2. Marit Bjørgen (cross country ski) 53
3. Ståle Solbakken (football/soccer) 11
4. Tora Berger (biathlon) 9
5. Emil Hegle Svendsen (biathlon) 7