2009 green jersey winner aims to strike yellow and defend points title
Tour 2010: Thor Hushovd hopeful for green and yellow (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
2009 green jersey winner Thor Hushovd aims to strike yellow as well as defend his points title in the 2010 Tour de France. The race kicks off in Rotterdam with an 8 kilometre prologue, something that Hushovd believes he is capable of winning.
"I think I can perform really well in the prologue," the Norwegian sprinter told Cyclingnews after the 2010 route was announced in Paris. "I've done well in prologues before. I won the Tour prologue in Strasbourg in 2006."
In fact the prologue suits Hushovd far more than in 2009, when the Tour started with a long and hilly encounter in Monaco. However 2010's short, flat course is one that he'll try to surprise favourites Alberto Contador, Fabian Cancellara and Bradley Wiggins in.
Yet his long term goal for the race will be the defence of his green jersey. "I didn't count how many stages are suited to the sprinters. All I know is that there will be enough to decide the jersey. Overall it looks like a harder Tour than last year," Hushovd said.
He will face stiff competition though with Columbia's Mark Cavendish hoping to win the title after the Manxman narrowly missed out in 2009, finishing second by just ten points, despite outscoring Hushovd 6-1 in stage victories. "I won't change my programme or my training too much. I'll go there to win and that's it. I know that it's an aim for Cavendish as well, so we should see another good fight."
Last year Hushovd won stage 6 to Barcelona, beating Oscar Freire into second place but he cemented his lead with a daring break on the stage from Bourg-Saint-Maurice to Le Grand-Bornand.
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Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
