Thor Hushovd eyes supporting role in the 2011 Tour de France
World champion Thor Hushovd has given up his ambition to win another points classification in the Tour de France. Instead, he will support teammate Tyler Farrar in his pursuit of the title in 2011.
Hushovd won the Tour's green jersey in 2005 and 2009, but has chosen to prioritize the classics events over sprints next season.
The Norwegian, who is set to join Garmin-Cervelo as his Cervelo TestTeam merges with Garmin-Transitions for next season, said his ambition for next year's Tour is to help Farrar to the Tour's points classification.
"Tyler Farrar is a good sprinter who has had great success over the last couple of years," Hushovd told TV2sporten.dk. The Norwegian beat Mark Cavendish to the Tour's green jersey last year, and now tips Farrar to beat the Manxman.
"[Farrar] has beaten Cavendish two or three times, most recently in Spain. And even I have not beaten Cavendish on a flat course. Now I realized that it is better to help him beat Cavendish, to get the win for our team."
The veteran had considered not partaking in the 2011 Tour to focus on defending the UCI Road Race World Championships title he won in September, but he has now decided that he will aim to race in both events, as he did this year.
"Fortunately, I managed this year to have a good Tour de France and then win the world championship. But there's nothing I want more than to be standing on the starting line next year in the Tour de France in the world champion jersey. That will be huge."
Part of the reason for Hushovd's success at the Worlds was his participation in several one-day races during the spring of 2010, which helped him prepare for the route in Australia. Several other sprinters, including Cavendish, failed to make an impact at
the Worlds.
"I sprinted very little. It made me a better one-day rider with a better driving force. I had built up the capacity and I like that kind of cycling, riding in a slightly different way. I'm going to try and get more into it, to get a better driving force
for the Classics and some of the tough finishes in, for example, the Tour de France."
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