Following yesterday’s abandonment of the Tour of Poland by Thor Hushovd, plus his statement that he is uncertain if he will be able to compete in the Olympics Games, his coach has explained that he has been battling the fatiguing effects of mononucleosis or a similar virus this season.
"After the Giro, he was diagnosed with a viral infection that was holding him back since the beginning of the season,” Atle Kvålsvoll told TV2. “This is mononucleosis or a similar disease…we don’t know exactly when he will be recovered.”
Hushovd moved to the BMC Racing Team over the winter on a lucrative contract and was expected to have a strong season with the team. Instead, his year has been a very quiet one, with fifth on a stage of Paris-Nice being the highlight. He was below par during the Classics, missing out on his target of winning Paris-Roubaix, and then withdrew early on in the Giro due to exhaustion.
He opted to miss the national championships and the Tour de France in order to build back up at his own pace, but his return in the Tour of Poland did not go to plan and he didn’t start yesterday’s penultimate stage.
Kvålsvoll said that the rider is “angry and disappointed. He trained hard to prepare for the Tour of Poland, he knows his body better than doctors. He has done his best and failed to get in shape.”
Hushovd said yesterday that London 2012 was uncertain; in truth, given his lack of form at this point in time, it seems unlikely he will contest the road race. “Thor is sad because he is unable to recover and give one hundred percent of himself,” said his coach. “Hushovd will not go to the Olympics if he has no guarantee of doing well, even if it hurts because he missed Beijing 2008.”
However Kvålsvoll believes that he will bounce back in time, and that he will once again be one of the world’s top riders. “These circumstances will make Thor is much stronger in 2013,” he said.