2008 Tour de France: Thor Hushovd: The Bear from Grimstad

France hasn’t come close to winning their national Tour since Bernard Hinault won the last of his 5 TdF titles in 1985. These days, French riders are just thinking of winning  a stage since the Maillot Jaune is only wishing thinking. Yesterday was a great day for France to see four of her sons on a breakaway, but then fate cruelly intervened.

Cristophe Moreau, Sylvain Chavanel, Thomas Voeckler and David Lelay seemed to have a good chance of winning with the strong winds keeping the chasing peloton in check. But like the Cavalry, the sprinter’s teams caught the escapees just in the nick of time, or 1.4km to go. In the flat stages, the peloton always has this uncanny ability to catch the break in this manner and their sense of timing is short of impeccable! The rule of the thumb in catching breakaways is the “1 minute per 10km rule”, meaning the chasers can get back one minute for every 10kms.  In other words, a 3 minute lead can be easily overhauled in the last 30k.

There was a nasty climb in the last 300m but Norwegian Thor Hushovd, a big guy from the town of Grimstad, burst through for his first win. He was ably guided by teammate Mark Renshaw ad let loose in the last 200m. Hushovd surprised me because I thought that his 180lb, 6 ft body was too heavy to win in a uphill sprint.

Yellow Jersey Alejandro Valverde was still in the mix when a rider in front of him slowed him down when the action started. The short, uphill finish should have favored Erik Zabel but I think that age has really crept into his legs the past 3 years.

Tomorrow’s Stage 3 from Saint-Malo to Nantes is 208km, flat stage that favors sprinters again. My pick to win Stage 3 is Brit Mark Cavendish. Cavendish’s acceleration is so fast in the last 100-50m that if in the right position, nobody could hold a candle to him.

NOTES

Chris Froome of team BARLOWORLD is the first rider from Kenya to ride the Tour de France. He doesn’t have the exotic and emaciated look of his more popular counterparts in the long distance running world since his ancestors are from Britain …..This early, I’d like to add SAUNIER DUVALL’S Ricardo Ricco in the “dark horse” list with Stijn Devolder. The runner-up in the recent Giro d’Italia is leading the Best Young Rider category.