Thor Hushovd

Thor Hushovd
To person
Date of birth	January 18, 1978
nation	Norway
discipline	Street
Driver type	Sprinter / classic specialist
height	183 cm
Racing weight	81 kg
End of career	2014
Team (s)
2000–2008 ; 2009–2010 ; 2011 ; 2012–2014	Crédit Agricole ; Cervélo TestTeam ; Team Garmin-Cervélo ; BMC Racing Team
Most important successes
	World Champion 2010 - road races points evaluation Tour de France 2005 and 2009 10 stages Tour de France points evaluation Vuelta a España 2006 Gent – Wevelgem 2006 ; ; ; ;
	Last updated: September 24, 2014

Thor Hushovd in the yellow jersey at the 2011 Tour de France

Thor Hushovd (born January 18, 1978 in Grimstad ) is a former Norwegian cyclist .

Career

After Hushovd won the U23 individual time trial title at the 1998 Road World Championships , he drove as a stagiaire for Crédit Agricole in 1999 and received his first regular contract with this cycling team the following year. At the Tour de France 2001 , Hushovd won the team time trial with this team . At the 2002 event , he won his first individual stage win in the sprint of a small breakaway group. On the second stage of the Tour de France 2004 he took over the yellow jersey of the overall leader, only to lose it the following day. At the Tour de France 2005 Hushovd decided the points classification for himself without having won a single stage.

He celebrated his greatest success to date in the spring of 2006 when he became the first Norwegian to win the classic Gent – Wevelgem . Surprisingly, he won the prologue at the Tour de France that same year and relegated the time trial specialists to their places. He also won the final stage on the Champs-Elysées , which he won in the sprint of the peloton.

At the 2007 Tour de France , Thor Hushovd won the fourth stage in the sprint. In 2009 he won the green jersey for the second time.

In 2010 he only had to admit defeat to Fabian Cancellara at Paris-Roubaix . In the Tour de France , he was unable to defend the green jersey despite a stage win that he achieved on the demanding cobblestone stage . He also won a stage at the Vuelta . At the road world championship , he achieved the greatest success of his career by winning the rainbow jersey.

At the Tour de France 2011 he was able to win the team time trial with his Garmin-Cervélo team in the first week of the tour , taking the lead in the overall standings. However, he had to hand this over to Thomas Voeckler after the ninth stage . In the second week of the tour he decided the 13th stage to Lourdes in solo for himself. He also won the 16th stage with the daily goal in Gap .

In June 2014, Thor Hushovd announced that he would retire from his cycling career after the current season. After a viral illness in 2012, he was never able to reach his previous top form.