Thor thunders in

Relief for Credit Agricole as Norwegian powers home

Crédit Agricole breathed a sigh of relief as Scandinavian powerhouse Thor Hushovd saved their Tour at Bourg-en-Bresse, and secured the first Norwegian Tour stage win for 15 years, reports Cycling Weekly magazine

FIFTEEN years after Dag-Otto Lauritzen’s victory at Luz Ardiden, it was high time that a Norwegian took a stage win in the Tour de France. At Bourg-en-Bresse Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) did exactly that with a powerful sprint win over Christophe Mengin.

“My dream is to win Paris-Roubaix,” Hushovd, a former junior world time trial champion, revealed. “But this stage will do nicely for now!”

What it meant FIVE out of six French teams have taken a stage at this year’s Tour, and even if Richard Virenque and Patrice Halgand are the only two French stage winners, this is a major advance for the home nation. Crédit Agricole’s success on stage 18 -- although Norwegian Thor Hushovd’s victory meant a Frenchman was pushed into second place -- also enables the green team to regain some much-needed credit after their poorest Tour since 1999. Of the French squads only Bonjour have not had a good day at the races. In fact there are very few teams that are going home completely empty-handed from the Tour. Euskaltel-Euskadi have had a very below-par performance, and although nobody expected Alessio to do much, big-budget squad ibanesto.com are still looking back to the Miguel Indurain years with plenty of nostalgia. The Spanish banker’s team have done better than last year’s complete disaster, thanks to Francisco Mancebo finishing in the top 10 overall. But this is only important if the Spaniard, the best young rider in the 2000 Tour, continues to progress. Otherwise his result will barely be remembered. Telekom’s Tour, although respectable with a stage win for Erik Zabel and a day in yellow for the German, still hinges on whether he can take the points jersey from Robbie McEwen in Paris. After today’s loss of one single point to the Australian, this battle will go down to the wire, but McEwen appears to have the upper hand. All the remaining teams have achieved success in the Tour, be it a stage, time in yellow, a podium placing or a victory in one of the various categories. However, it goes without saying which squad, and which rider, gets the lion’s share of Crédit Lyonnais lions.

The 24-year-old dedicated Norway’s second ever stage win to his team, enduring their worst Tour since 1999, and in particular to Christophe Moreau. "I hope he has a speedy recovery, we need him,” he said.

Crédit Agricole leader Moreau was forced to quit in the Alps after crashing four times, and Hushovd himself had come very close to doing the same two weeks before. On the attack on stage two of the race with Sylvain Chavanel (Bonjour) and Stéphane Berges (Ag2r), Hushovd was forced to stop four times with agonizing cramp. Overtaken by the peloton, and blocked in by crowds who thought the race had passed through, the Norwegian finished last on the stage. But he battled on, and when Leon Van Bon (Domo) began an attack after just four kilometers of racing on stage 18, he knew it was a golden opportunity for him to go up the road again.

“This stage has barely a meter of flat,” was how Lance Armstrong had described the 170-kilometer hike out of the Alps and west into the vineyards of the Rhone valley.

Green giant

The bunch seemed happy to see the 10 get on with it and eased off slightly in the warm weather. When it came to Tour breaks, Hushovd was one of the greenest riders in the group. Rabobank’s breakaway specialist Erik Dekker was present, as well as Mengin, ONCE’s Jörg Jaksche, Italian Gian-Matteo Fagnini (Telekom), two CSC riders, Jakob Piil and Niki Sorensen, Fassa Bortolo’s Nicola Loda and Ag2r Frenchman Thierry Loder.

The 10 built up a lead of 8-50 by the feed, enough to ensure one of them the win, and the attacks began on the final climb of Berthiand, around 35 kilometers from the finish, thanks to German climber Jaksche.

Van Bon seemed uninterested as the German moved away briefly with Sorensen and Mengin over the summit, letting the split form without making any attempt to chase. Perhaps the Dutchman had been informed about the very fast undulating descent towards Bourg-en-Bresse, where the Jaksche-led trio were reeled in.

What nobody had bargained for was a Scandinavian alliance between Piil and Hushovd. The two drifted off the front on the second half of the descent with 20 kilometers to go, and it was only Mengin, the strongest rider present, who reacted quickly enough to bridge across.

The three worked hard together, quickly establishing a 40-second advantage despite Dekker’s efforts behind them. The long flat avenues heading west to Bourg-en-Bresse meant the three were often visible ahead, but with their high level of collaboration there was almost no chance of them being caught.

Working together as they crossed the river Ain and into the final kilometer, Piil looked the strongest of the three and, as the last man in the string, in the ideal position to take the stage. But as the Dane wound up the sprint with 200 meters to go, he pulled his left foot out of he pedal, landing painfully on the crossbar. It was a bitter pill for the CSC rider, a known track sprinter, and he could only watch as Hushovd -- leading from he front -- fended off Mengin, surging up on his right, by half a wheel.

Nearly 12 minutes later, the peloton rolled in, treating the crowd to another spectacular sprint, this time a four-way battle between Robbie McEwen (Lotto), Erik Zabel (Telekom), Jan Svorada (Lampre) and Stuart O’Grady (Credit Agricole). The Lotto rider’s late burst of power gave him the better placing, enabling him to gain a one-point advantage over Zabel in the battle for green. Unlike the maillot jaune, long since decided, neither rider seems willing to throw in the towel until they cross the finish line in Paris.

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