Despite the importance of participation in the Tour de France, the Cervélo TestTeam’s two-time green jersey winner Thor Hushovd sees his main target for 2010 as one of the big spring classics.
“The Classics are important to me,” he told Norwegian TV channel TV2 Sport, “Milano-Sanremo, Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix in particular; I was so close this year.”
In Milano-Sanremo Hushovd took third in the sprint behind Columbia’s Mark Cavendish and Cervélo teammate Heinrich Haussler. In Paris-Roubaix three weeks later he was clear with Tom Boonen (Quick Step) on the Carrefour de l’Arbre cobbles sector with around 15km to go, but his crash on a left hand bend allowed the Belgian to escape. He remounted and beat Silence-Lotto pair Leif Hoste and Johan Vansummeren in the sprint for another third place.
“The Norwegian national championship is also high on the list this year and the Tour de France,” he said, adding that his biggest competitors in the classics would be Fabian Cancellara, Philippo Pozzato and Tom Boonen as expected.
There are few personnel changes at the Cervélo TestTeam for 2010, but there is one that interests Hushovd particularly: the arrival of former track sprinter Theo Bos from the Rabobank Continental team. The Dutchman could be a useful ally in sprint finishes, but could also be a rival within the team.
“We’ll have to see what the team plan is for me and what the schedule is for Bos,” he said. “It will be interesting to see what he can do.”
Although a former multiple World champion on the track, Bos has yet to make a real breakthrough on the road and is most famous for an incident at the finish of the final stage of the Tour of Turkey in April this year. The Dutchman was suspended for a month by the UCI after he was adjudged to have behaved dangerously by pulling on the jersey of Barloworld’s Daryl Impey in the sprint.
“I have learned to know him,” continued Hushovd. “I was sceptical of him because of what happened, but he is an incredibly nice guy so we must hope that it was a one-time event.”