2011 Tour de Suisse, Stage 4: Grindelwald - Hutwill, 198.4 km

[Michielveedeebee]

Wow Ryaguas, what did I ever do to you?

1. I didn't call him a tool. I said he races like a tool.

I did call him an idiot, but I obviously meant he raced like an idiot.

2. I do respect Sagan. And unlike you, I don't dislike him.

3. What are you? Hitch's blood brother? It's not because him and me have a little personal vendetta going on that you need to hop on the wagon and start crapping all over me.

You can't go on a vendetta without a secondant

 

[boomcie]

You can't go on a vendetta without a secondant

In that case, I'll be my own secondant. No need to involve anymore people.

 

[UpTheRoad]

Nice Tour so far, couple of good wins. Good to see Hushovd dealing with the curse of rainbow jersey!

Off topic: Bad karma to the 92 a-holes riders who did not wait for Andy Schleck during the TT after he had another "mechanical" Someone should teach Andy how to shift gears properly

Even though Cancellara also seemed to jump a gear during his start, I've got to believe that the mechanic is not at fault for Andy's mishap.

He must have ridden the course at least two or three times earlier in the day and if there was a problem Andy should have picked up on it. Mechanical problems occur, but it's always the chain. It cannot be a coincidence.

Every rider has both strengths and weaknesses and shifting gears just doesn't seem to be an Andy Schleck strength.

 

[amatoer]

Thor

Thor"s trainer say that Thor is in his life form. He is sure he is in route for the the Tour.When i looked at his effort to get in the right position for the sprint i knew he wanted this win bad.He got no help from his team mates like nearly always!look at the train for sagen!
Thor took a lot of wind in the last km. Bonen looks like he would try for it but have no chance to follow hushovd!
with the new point system in the tour of france hushovd must go for the green again.

 

[Granville57]

I can't believe I missed today's stage.

That's all I got.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

I do preffered his kit with the black bibs, all white is allright but white shirt + black bibs were awesome

 

[kanari]

I do preffered his kit with the black bibs, all white is allright but white shirt + black bibs were awesome

Agreed. He used white for MSR but then switched back to black for the cobbled classics which looked great and was the appropriate choice IMO. All white would have been too flashy for those races. I think all white will be fine for TdF though.

 

[Karl Max]

Great to see Hushovd finally take a win in the World Champion jersey.
What I really like about Hushovd is that he go out before many stages and races and says he really wants to win this one, and very often he do.

I think this shows the kind of class he got , he knows his strength and he knows he is not the best sprinter in the world, but that he is capable of winning some stages and races with a certain kind of profile. And he is very good at picking these stages from reading the stage profiles before the races.
In norwgian media he told many days ago he really wanted to win this stage, and the same was about the stage he won in in the Vuelta last year.

 

[El Pistolero]

Great to see Hushovd finally take a win in the World Champion jersey.
What I really like about Hushovd is that he go out before many stages and races and says he really wants to win this one, and very often he do.

I think this shows the kind of class he got , he knows his strength and he knows he is not the best sprinter in the world, but that he is capable of winning some stages and races with a certain kind of profile. And he is very good at picking these stages from reading the stage profiles before the races.
In norwgian media he told many days ago he really wanted to win this stage, and the same was about the stage he won in in the Vuelta last year.

He almost never wins and always stuffs up in big races because he's too afraid to take a pull

 

[Karl Max]

He almost never wins and always stuffs up in big races because he's too afraid to take a pull

Hushovd always get between 6-10 wins every year, expect from last year he did not win so much. Except from the norwegain national championship, a stage in the tour and vuelta ,and of course he won the worlds .
He is not a winning machine like Cavendish . But to say he almost never wins is a little bit far from the truth.
That he never won a monument or to many classics is correct, but after all he won the world championship last year, and the Norwegian team only had two other riders in the race. So this preformance speaks for itself. But I agree with you he has a not reached his potential in the classics yet.
My point is, he knows his strengths and his limitations. He is a steady and consistent rider, he is not the best sprinter and he knows. But he got some strengths and is capable of deliver big wins for his teams every year, that is a fact.

 

[El Pistolero]

Hushovd always get between 6-10 wins every year, expect from last year he did not win so much. Except from the norwegain national championship, a stage in the tour and vuelta ,and of course he won the worlds .
He is not a winning machine like Cavendish . But to say he almost never wins is a little bit far from the truth.
That he never won a monument or to many classics is correct, but after all he won the world championship last year, and the Norwegian team only had two other riders in the race. So this preformance speaks for itself. But I agree with you he has a not reached his potential in the classics yet.
My point is, he knows his strengths and his limitations. He is a steady and consistent rider, he is not the best sprinter and he knows. But he got some strengths and is capable of deliver big wins for his teams every year, that is a fact.

Don't think Hushovd has ever won 10 races in one season... He's good in winning one or two stages in GTs. And in some "minor" stage races. Other than that I find him extremely disappointing. As for the team thingie. Hushovd didn't have to do too much work during that WC, so let's not make things look better than they actually are. He did some work before the sprint, but not nearly as much as some other guys during that WC. It was his race to lose really.

I find Hushovd's palmares a bit disappointing compared to his natural abilities(or enhanced, who knows). The WC title makes up for a lot though, but still.

 

[greenedge]

nice work by Thor. Goss was nowhere in shot near the end. WHY?????

 

[Boardslide]

nice work by Thor. Goss was nowhere in shot near the end. WHY?????

According to his Twitter he lost the wheel at 400m to go & so was wrongly placed by the time he got it back at 200m it was too late.

 

[kjetilraknerud]

According to his Twitter he lost the wheel at 400m to go & so was wrongly placed by the time he got it back at 200m it was too late.

In other words, he wasn't good enough.

 

[Boardslide]

In other words, he wasn't good enough.

Yep thats correct, just explained why he wasn't good enough and not the fact that the team weren't working for him.

 

[goggalor]

Notice how Hushovd gets a track pull from Gutierrez @ 3:52: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HW99WpW-ko&t=3m52s

Will Rojas be happy about that?

 

[Tuarts]

Notice how Hushovd gets a track pull from Gutierrez @ 3:52: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HW99WpW-ko&t=3m52s

Will Rojas be happy about that?

Gutierrez lost the wheel in front of him and was pulling out of the line. He did the professional thing and helped the rider behind to stay in contact.

Seen it happen in amateur racing as well. It's not the same as say, Friere getting a slingshot from a team-mate to help him win a stage.