Thor Hushovd out of Milan-San Remo
Team BMC announced today that their star rider Thor Hushovd will not ride the Milan-San Remo 2012.
The American side is having a dry season considering the fact that it has not secured any victories yet.
The team was looking at Hushovd to open its winning account for the 2012 season but now has to face the disappointment after the departure of its top rider.
Hushovd claimed the podium during the 2005 and 2009 versions of the Italian race but has now been sidelined because of the fever.
“Monday night I woke up with fever and was cold and sweating, I have felt bad for two days now so there's no chance to race on Saturday. I am really disappointed because it was obviously one of my first goals of the year", he briefed.
Thor accepted an offer from Team BMC after a successful year with Team Garmin-Cervelo. He claimed three stages at the Tour de France and held the yellow jersey for eight consecutive stages, stage 2-9.
Team BMC is now looking ahead at Philippe Gilbert and Greg Van Avermaet to help them at the Italian race.
The Belgian is also struggling to find form in the current season and is hopeful to pick momentum at the Milan-San Remo.
Gilbert claimed the first spot at the UCI World Tour Elite Men rankings and proved his worth at a number of races in the past season.
He grabbed the third podium position behind the first and the second position holders Matthew Goss and Fabian Cancellara during the Milan-San Remo 2011.
Philippe noted, "Milan-San Remo can be a very strange race where anything can happen. If it's not for me in the final, maybe it will be Alessandro Ballan or Greg Van Avermaet or someone else on our team”.
Eight cyclists to represent the team include, Alessandro Ballan, Marcus Burghardt, Philippe Gilbert, George Hincapie, Taylor Phinney, Manuel Quinziato, Michael Schär and Greg Van Avermaet.
Alessandro Ballan is one cyclist that is pretty much capable to fulfil the team’s goal for the coming event.
He is currently enjoying a much better form than his Team BMC team-mates and is pretty much in shape to climb the top podium spot on the fourth World Tour event of the season.
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