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Hushovd nails prologue at Volta a Catalunya
Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) notched an impressive prologue win in Monday’s opener at the Volta a Catalunya against some pretty impressive company.
Hushovd, 30, used his combination of strength and technical skills to claim a six-second victory over George Hincapie (High Road) on the short, but challenging 3.7km course in Lloret de Mar.
Spanish rider José Ivan Gutiérrez (Caisse d’Epargne) and Tomas Lovkvist (High Road) tied at seven seconds off the pace with world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara (CSC) stopping the lock nine seconds in arrears.
Along with his victory at Paris-Nice, it’s the Norwegian sprinter’s second big prologue win of the season. Too bad for him there’s not an opening prologue in this year’s Tour de France.
“It was a very technical circuit and I had the luck to race it in the dry,” said Hushovd, who won in four minutes, 37 seconds. “Tomorrow will be complicated to keep the jersey because if the climbers attacks, they can drop me on the climb.”
Gutiérrez, one of Spain’s top time trialists, expressed satisfaction with his performance even though he admitted he’s not in top shape coming into the six-day Catalunya tour.
“This course, so short, was reserved for sprinters more than pure time trialists. I would have liked to have won, but I have to be realistic. I am still not at my best moment and just like last year, I am in Catalunya to prepare for the Tour de France. If I can manage to win something, it will be welcomed, but for the moment I have already accepted the idea I won’t be winning a stage here. We have other riders on the team who can be ahead in this Volta.”
The 88th Volta continues Tuesday with the 167.8km second stage from Riudellots de la Selva to Banyoles. The bumpy route includes a category-one climb in the second half of the stage, but there’s plenty of road before the finish for the peloton to come back together if Hushovd can manage to get over the climb.
