Following reports yesterday that world champion Thor Hushovd wasn’t fully satisfied in the Garmin-Cervélo team, his agent Alex Carera has this morning moved to quell suggestions of tension.
Procycling.no yesterday quoted Carera as saying that Hushovd had not been paid a bonus due to him after he won the world road race championships in Geelong last autumn. He added that Vaughters was trying to raise the funds to pay the extra amount.
Carera said this morning that relations were fine between the rider and the team. “I declare that there isn’t any problem between the World Champion Thor Hushovd and his Team Garmin-Cervélo as stated in the article,” he said.
“Team Garmin continues to search for a second name sponsor. If they should find one before the Tour de France, then I believe that Jonathan will be generous and pay Thor a bonus, despite the fact that there is no bonus in Thor’s contract. We apologize for any misunderstanding on this matter.”
Hushov is one of seven riders who moved from the folding Cervélo Test Team to Garmin. He was joined by Heinrich Haussler, Roger Hammond, Andreas Klier, Dan Lloyd, Brett Lancaster and Gabriel Rasch.
He won the world title in Geelong in a large sprint, beating Matti Breschel (Denmark) and Allan Davis (Australia). His contract with Garmin had already been agreed before that race.
The situation is complicated by the fact that Hushovd originally had a contract to race this season with the Cervélo Test Team, but it ended its sponsorship early and instead moved across to Garmin as a partner.