No increased salary for Hushovd

World champion Thor Hushovd has revealed that the terms of his 2011 contract with Garmin-Cerveöp remained unchanged even after the Norwegian won the gold medal in Geelong, Australia. Hushovd, who announced his one-year contract with the American team in August, said that the rainbow jersey did not give him an increase in salary even though he had asked for it.

"No, I have not received any new offers from Garmin," Hushovd told Norwegian media Fædrelandsvennen. "They wanted to give me a better contract, but they have no more money, they have used up their budget."

But Hushovd remained philisophical about it. "It's just the way it is, so I'm not going to waste my time and energy to dwell on it. It's just part of the risk when signing a new contract early," said the 32-year-old, who kept the same contract conditions as he had with Cervélo, estimated by the media at approximately 1,200,000 Euro per annum.

Now, Hushovd looks forward to getting to know his new teammates and management, even though he still gets offers to change teams in 2012. "I do not know what happens after 2011," he said. "Now I have to wait and see if I like Garmin first, I have not met people there yet."

On Sunday, Hushovd will fly out to the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean for the team's first get-together, and he is eager to meet one of the squad's leaders, Tyler Farrar, for the first time. "We need to sit down and talk about the opportunities we have. We must take advantage of the fact that we are such strong riders," Hushovd said about the fast sprinter, with whom he will share team leadership.

"I have spoken to the sports director Jonathan Vaughters, too. We must share our thoughts and find a middle ground that fits," he added with regard to dividing up the 2010 race programme.

Hushovd will probably start the season in the Far East, either in Qatar or Oman, with an exact racing schedule to be decided at the team meeting next week.