A cobbled transition | Cyclingnews

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Thor Hushovd knows what's ahead of him(Image credit: Shane Stokes)

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The big Norwegian is now in his 10th pro season but, rather than becoming weary or complacent, he's motivated by the possibility of taking some big races this season. "My condition is not yet at its peak, of course, but I have been training hard this winter," he explains. "I have a few kilometres in my legs already, I feel myself getting better and better. I hope to be on top from the middle of March, for Milano-Sanremo until Paris-Roubaix.

Affection for Roubaix aside, his characteristics as a strong sprinter plus his past result in the event means that it is - on paper at least - more likely that he could win there. He feels that to improve from that third place will depend on his legs in the sprint rather than a leadout from his team. "Last year the race was so hard," he says. "You need a good team until the Poggio, then it is up to if you can follow on the climb. When you turn around at the bottom of the descent and see who is there, it is hard to have a team-mate or two left at that point. So it is really up to you as to what chance you have."

He was taken aback by how things turned out with Roger Legeay's search. "I knew it was hard but I was sure that he would get something," he says. "So I was really surprised. Roger seemed confident and I knew that he knows a lot of people. Maybe I was hoping too much. It was certainly a hard time with the financial crisis and the [drug] problem in cycling. It was just bad timing for the sponsor to stop, I think."

Having spent such a long time with Crédit Agricole, such a big change could have been difficult. Yet it's all worked out quite comfortably due, in part, to familiar faces. "I know many of the guys from before," he explained. "There are already five of us who came from Crédit Agricole, and some others I know from various races. Of course there are some new riders too; some Americans, some Spaniards I don't know... there are actually some guys I have not seen racing before. But the mood is very good."

With Hushovd and Sastre as clear leaders of the team, they were able to have an input into the riders Cervélo signed. Hushovd has several strong team-mates for his leadout train, including Roger Hammond, Olympic pursuit silver medallist Hayden Roulston and Brett Lancaster. The latter played a similar role for Alessandro Petacchi and Erik Zabel at Milram. Hushovd feels that they will prove to be a successful combination.

They will of course be up against other leadout trains, including those working for Tom Boonen, Petacchi, Daniele Bennati, Robbie McEwen, and the rider who emerged as the fastest sprinter in 2008, Mark Cavendish. "We will see how it works with Columbia and Cavendish," he says. "It is quite exceptional what he did last year, but we will just focus on our job rather than thinking about what the others are doing. We can't change anything so I think it is better that we just focus on our job, on what I have to do."

So does he think that there is room for both a yellow and green jersey contender on the Cervélo team? "I think it is possible," he answered. "I have spoken with Carlos about it and I really think it is possible. I need two or three men while he doesn't need eight guys. If he has three or four guys who can be with him in the mountains, and if there are two or three guys who can do some work for both of us, then it is okay. If the team is together and working well as a unit, I think it is possible to go for both green and yellow."

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