Cervélo TestTeam's Thor Hushovd will be making his return to the peloton for the Tour de Suisse on June 12th in Lugano. The Norwegian broke his collarbone while out training in Italy last month after colliding with a young girl.
"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,” he said after the crash.
Hushovd underwent successful surgery at the CrossKlinik in Basel several weeks ago, and has already been back to training for the past couple of weeks. He is optimistic about his green jersey defense at the Tour de France.
“The healing process went well, I feel very good at the moment and I am looking forward to racing again,” said Hushovd. “The Tour de Suisse is a great race and a good opportunity to prepare myself for my next big goal – the Tour de France.”
The Classics specialist started off the year slow, but battled back from illness to finish second in Paris-Roubaix, one place better than his 2009 finish. Now that he's over his latest setback, the team will hope he has better luck for the rest of the season.
“We are very pleased that Thor is soon back in competition and feeling well,” said the team's General Manager Joop Alberda. “The health of an athlete always has priority and we didn’t want Thor to come back too early. Now, everything is looking fine and our medical team have given him the green light to start racing again.”