Hushovd thunders to first win of the year in Huttwil

World champion Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervelo) has won his first race in the rainbow-striped jersey with a sprint victory today in stage four of the Tour de Suisse. With a finish suited to Hushovd's strengths, the 33-year-old Norwegian bested Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil-DCM) on the uphill drag to the line in Huttwil.

The 21-year-old Sagan, resplendent in the blue points leader's jersey, led-out the sprint 200m from the line with such a strong surge that only Hushovd could grab the Slovakian's wheel. In a two-man drag race to the finish line, Hushovd, however, proved too powerful and came around Sagan in the closing metres for the win, his first since claiming the world championship last October.

The top of the general classification remained unchanged as Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) maintained his 54-second lead over Mauricio Soler (Movistar) and 1:16 advantage on third-placed Bauke Mollema (Rabobank).

On the 198.4km parcours from Grindelwald to Huttwil, the day's early break was comprised of Lloyd Mondory (AG2R La Mondiale), Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) and Cesare Benedetti (Team NetApp). The trio's lead approached five minutes after 80km of racing before being pegged back at four minutes. On a day for the sprinters the catch was never in doubt, with the Sky and Omega Pharma-Lotto-led peloton ultimately neutralising the escape on the 25km finishing circuit with 17.5km remaining.

It wasn't a classic sprinter's stage, however, as there was a fair amount of climbing on the finishing circuit culminating with a steady 3 percent rise to the line.

Sergey Lagutin (Vacansoleil-DCM) launched an attack with 12.3km to go, and was soon joined by Jan Bakelants (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and Daniel Oss (Liquigas-Cannondale), but the trio were brought back four kilometres later.

Jens Voigt (Leopard Trek) was the next to give it a go, attacking with 4.5km to go, but his stint off the front came to a close inside of 2km remaining.

HTC-Highroad led the peloton through the flamme rouge, followed closely by Leopard Trek. Stuart O'Grady briefly got a gap, but was caught with 500m to go. As the peloton approached the line Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) made a powerful acceleration with 200m remaining, but world champion Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervelo) was quick to react and came around the young Slovakian for the victory.

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