Thor Hushovd struggling at the Tour of Britain – Cycling Update
The World Road Time Trial Champion Thor Hushovd is being treated by penicillin and is hopeful that his participation will not be affected by sickness as he is looking forward to represent Norway in the Championships.
Hushovd’s name was not on the roster during the Vuelta a Espana 2011 as team’s boss Jonathan Vaughters defended himself by saying that that he has done what he believed was best for team Garmin-Cervelo.
Team Garmin has clearly missed the presence of Thor as the best position they could secure at Vuelta was by Heinrich Haussler as he finished the race at 13th after the final general classifications with team Garmin-Cervelo finishing the race at
15th position with a total time of 2:41:41.
Hushovd is currently riding at the Tour of Britain scheduled from September 11-18 as the final preparation before the Championships. He finished the first stage of Tour of Britain at 65th as Mark Cavendish won the race with Mark Renshaw at second
and Theo Bos at third position after stage 1.
The 33-year-old is not in the best of health as he was ready to race at the 130 kilometre second stage of the Tour of Britain 2011 starting from Kendal and finishing at Blackpool. Tour of Britain 2011 director Mick Bennett announced that stage 2 of the event
has been cancelled due to bad weather as he said, “In my 30 years of organising cycling events, I have never once had to cancel a stage before it even started, so this is not a decision that has been taken lightly.”
Thor was lucky to have one day rest in the Tour as it might help him recover as he is having complaints with his throat, sinus and nose. Atil Kvalsvoll told procycling.no, “He is very sick and it’s true that he has begun to take penicillin.” He further mentioned
that it is forecasted to rain in Britain and there are still 7 days of cycling remaining in the event and Hushovd has no intentions of abandoning the event.
It will be interesting to see if Thor continues to ride at the Tour of Britain as it is his final and only chance to prepare for the World Championships. He will need to be completely fit to join the World’s best riders at the World Road Race Championships
2011 as the competition is fierce and all the riders will be looking for something special to take a victory. Thor Hushovd will be looking ahead to defend his crown as he won the gold medal in 2010 with Matti Breschel of Denmark finishing second with a Silver
and Allan Davis of Australia claiming the bronze medal at the 2010 UCI Road World Championships.
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