Norwegian champion admits that had he wanted to, it would not have been hard
In a surprising interview with Norwegian television station, NRK, Thor Hushovd says that he has never seen drugs of either the performance enhancing type or the recreational sort.
“I have never seen doping in cycling, and never in the evenings in the urban environment, to put it that way,” states the recently crowned World Champion.
Hushovd, who has raced for only two teams so far in his career, Credit Agricole from 2000-2008 and then the Cervelo TestTeam for the 2009 and 2010 seasons, will be part of the merger with Jonathan Vaughters’s Garmin team in 2011. Hushovd seems to be one of the few riders that has never been implicated with some sort of scandal. For a rider that came up and rode well in the early 2000’s, it’s a surprising statement, and a reassuring one. For Hushovd though, he feels that he has it a little easier than the riders who aim for general classification glory.
“I think that the overall riders, who must be good everyday for a long time, and who must ride uphill extremely fast, it has a greater effect for them. It’s hard to succeed for them than it is for example for us sprinters,” said this year’s 2nd place finisher at Paris-Roubaix on the nrk.no website.
The Norwegian champion feels that it simply comes down to making a choice. Of course it comes down to making a choice, but Hushovd admits that had he wanted to dope, it would not have been difficult to get what he needed. On the flip side of the coin, the same holds true if he wanted to enjoy a night out on the town a la Tom Boonen.
“It’s about what you want to achieve. If I wanted to dope in the cycling context, I would have found it, and if I wanted to do drugs and have more fun on the town, I would have certainly found drugs there too, of course.”
On the topic of the topic of all topics, Alberto Contador, Hushovd is frank: if he is sanctioned and serves his time, then he can return. The rider who hopes to win Paris-Roubaix in the Rainbow Jersey in 2011 refuses to be drawn into a discussion on right or wrong.
“If he takes his sentence, if he has done something wrong, it’s the way society and the sport works – if he serves his time, then he’s back.”