Only seventeen days ago, Thor Hushovd, last year's Maillot Vert winner at the Tour de France, suffered an unfortunate crash in training, which resulted in a broken collarbone. The 32-year-old all-around threat hit a young girl while training in Italy.
He described the incident the day of the crash, May 9th: "I was out for training with some riders and accidentally ran into a little girl who was crossing the road. First I tried to help her, but I soon realized that I was not able and there was something wrong. Unfortunately, I broke my collarbone. The little girl is fine.”
Fast forward seventeen days and the former Norwegian champion announced that he is working hard in hopes of making as rapid of a comeback as possible. "This week, I started with indoor training on the rollers. I am training twice a day in order to maintain my shape, though unfortunately I am not able to train outside on the bike yet."
Of course, the main question for any injury of this sort for a rider of Hushovd's caliber is: will he be ready in time for the Tour de France? Hushovd is hesitant to make any predictions and prefers to just set about regaining his health and form. "At the moment, I am not sure about my race calendar. I can only say that I am doing well and improving day by day."
Cervelo team doctor, Andreas Goesele, underlined Thor's words, but also lets on to just how important it is to get this year's Paris-Roubaix runner-up back and ready for action by July 3rd - Hushovd receives a check-up every two days at this point. "Getting healthy is still the main focus for Thor. The rehabilitation phase is going really well. We are checking him every second day and following up carefully."