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Like many of you out there this morning, I awoke to Thor Hushovd taking the race by the throat and shaking the shit out of it. God damn right.
“I had an amazing day on the bike at the front,” Hushovd said. “I think it was the best day I’ve ever had on the bike.”
Source: tour-de-france.velonews.com
The man is a bad ass. As a big man, I enjoy seeing the meat racks of the sport get some. And Thor got some.
Thor Hushovd (Cervélo TestTeam) heard the comments from arch-rival Mark Cavendish about how the big Viking needed to DQ the British sprinter to have any chance to win the green jersey.
The tension was ratcheting up even since the stage to Besançon when Cavendish was relegated for irregular sprinting in the bunch sprint for 13th place. That UCI jury decision essentially gifted Hushovd the green jersey.
But the Cervélo sprinter was too proud to take it that way.
In Wednesday’s five-climb “queen stage” across the heart of the French Alps, the Norseman went on an angry solo flier over two first-category cols so that there would never be an asterisk next to his green jersey. Id.
Cav has pop. Sure. He can leap out of the field on a flat run-in and blow the doors off anything in professional cycling.
But you know what he doesn’t have? Thug sauce by the case.
Reminds of of another Hero of the Big Men, Eros Poli winning on the Ventoux stage in the 1994 Tour de France with a 171k breakaway.
Not so much on the Ventoux as he lost nearly 20 minutes on the climb, but up and over it. I’ve read he lost a nearly minute every kilometer of the climb!
Dude rocked it. And he suffered like a dog!
Link dump:
Badger: velonews.com
RapStrong: beastieboys.com
Pain Cave: cyclingnews.com
No Gifts: velonews.com
Roll it: roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com
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Thor is the shit. Gotta love the big men.
one of the best performances in this year’s tour for sure. cav needs to stfu & ride. Thor IS the shit.
speaking of bad-asses, how about a good thought for Jens? nasty fucking crash. always been one of my faves. get well & get back on the bike soon you crazy fucker!
Anything over 500 meters and Thor kicks that Brits candy ass every time. Roll on like thunder big man!
Yep. Long sprinter. He’s the Snake of the Pelican.
Have to love a guy who says the most with his actions.
It wasn’t Thor’s fault Cav got relegated…so I gotta agree he should stfu on that one.
…no doubt the goddamn god of thunder poured on (sprinkled ???…wtf) some serious thug sauce & proved that kickin’ it on the hills was gonna leave a certain manx speedster green w/ envy for the day…
…but while the mighty thor hushovd will always be considered a champ, let’s not kid ourselves…coupla years, s’more miles & cavo’s gonna be marketing his own brand of thug sauce…the milano – san remo win speaks volumes about gettin’ over climbs n’ kickin’ ass down the road…literally & figuratively…
…& if anybody needs to ‘shut-the-fuck-up’, it’s bernard ‘the provincial’ hinault…one great old bike racer who doesn’t get off the farm much ‘cept during ‘tour days’…kick that barnyatd shit off yer brogues, badger & stop the whining…both you & fucking lemond…it’s like ya both got a major case of “hey you ‘new’ kids, get offa my lawn”…
…jens v…you, sir are one very classy, indefatigable & ultimate team guy & there wasn’t one of us in the whole world of cycling who didn’t cringe a little harder knowing it was you that went down in that crash…
…damn…we’re cheering for you to come all the way back…
True stuff. Thor may own the day but Cav owns the year and the future in the sprint world.
I can see a trend starting where it becomes a badge of distinction to get tackled off the tour podium by Hinault. Could be a yearly TdF challenge – who can be the first to get planted by the Badger. Little underground competition to add some further excitement maybe?
…”wow, bonjour, monsieur hinault…i’m a blogger from america, called bikesgonewild…this is like my first time here at the tour but i’ve been a fan for years”…
…“ah, oui, comment ca va, monsieur ???…zat name, it sounds familiar pour moi…& so, you were a fan also of le blaireau, the badger back in my day, uhhh ???”…
…”oh ya, fer sure, bernie…well maybe ‘cept when you were dickin’ yer buddy greg lemond around on the mountains climbs n’ shit…in his day ol’ greg was pretty big back home as you can guess, eh ???”…
…oui, yes, fer sure, as you say, uh ???…but we let bygones be bygones, eh ???…& so-o-o, monsieur bikesgonewild, as a guest ‘ere at le tour de france, you would per’aps enjoy a little visit of our facilities, n’est pas ???…it would be mon plasir to show you around, ok ???”…
…”oh, ya, thanks, dude, that’d be cool…wow…so this is where it all happens, huh ???…the little lion toys, those hot babes handin’ out flowers n’ trophies n’ jerseys n’ shit…this is awesome, bernie”…
…“please, please, monsieur, step up ‘ere on le top step, eh…a place of honour, le podium, n’est pas ???”…
…”wow, dude, co-o-ol…up here i feel like i just won a stage of le tou………FUCK, BERNARD…GODDAMMIT…THAT FUCKING HURT…ARGGGHHH !!!…you bastard, THAT’S gonna leave a mark, dammit !!!…shit, that was a long fucking drop”…
…& speaking of podiums…
…mark my words & i’m certainly no oracle but i’m just sayin’ that RADIO SHACK is gonna start sounding real familiar next season…
+1 for Jens.
-1 for throat cancer…luck to MCA on that tip.
+1 to Thor.
-1 to Cav…no whining…its the TOUR.
and to leave it on a positive note…
+1 to my wife Michelle, over halfway thru her first complete RAGBRAI.
From the cyclingnews live coverage:
“Hushovd gestures to the TV cameras, holding the green jersey and appearing to say ‘this is mine’.”
While Cav is learning some very hard lessons about what it takes to win a green jersey, I at least give him some credit for staying for the whole race this year.
Yep, nice to see one of the big kids do well.
art— good point… young Tyler Farrar is also still classified, 155/158 at 3:08:39. Go, Tyler!