Thor Hushovd was in good position in Paris-Roubaix, but a crash at nearly the same time Tom Boonen launched his ultimately successful attack once again crushed the BMC Racing Team rider's dreams of winning this race. Nevertheless, he didn't let that stop him and rode “in pure defiance” to finish 14th, over four minutes down.
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Hushovd was behind Juan Antonio Flecha of Sky, who “was about to run into a police officer, so he turned away suddenly. Then I had to jump over a traffic island, but I landed crooked and with low pressure in the tires I just slipped away.
“I knew right away that the race was over for me,” he told aftenposten.no. “So I rode in pure defiance.”
The tall Norwegian irritatedly rejected the idea of a curse against him winning the race. “It's time to stop harping on the damn curse. There is no curse of the World Champion jersey, and there is no curse here in Roubaix.”