April 11/10 15:00 pm - Paris-Roubaix

Posted by Editoress on 04/11/10
 

Cervélo TestTeam’s Thor Hushovd (NOR) finished second today in the 108th edition of Paris Roubaix. Teammate Roger Hammond (GBR) came in fourth. The winner, Swiss champion Fabian Cancellera (Saxo Bank) rode solo into the velodrome at Roubaix finishing two minutes ahead of Hushovd and Juan Flecha (ESP-Team Sky), who took third.

“In the team meeting we agreed we needed someone in the break,” explained Roger Hammond. “There were four of our guys jumping around and they did a great job and then Jeremy Hunt (GBR) got in the break and we were nice and relaxed except in the back of my mind this means we’re with the big guys and we have to go when they go. Fortunately with the help of all the other guys we were protected and that meant Thor and I were able to follow when they really went.

"Then I was hoping to open up the race early and make Boonen and Cancellera commit. But Cancellera was isolated, he was on his own basically in the front so I started attacking early but they also started following me really early. Cancellera was unbelievable, he was on a different planet, and we realized we had to ride for second directly. So we started racing for second once he was on his own. I mean to get second and fourth is not bad really, if you take Cancellera out of the equation we got first and third.”

“I think we cancelled the bad luck that we had last month and it as really nice to see the team performing like we know they can,” said Jean-Paul van Poppel, sport director. “We were already good at Milan–San Remo. We had three targets for the classics, Milan San Remo, Flanders and Roubaix, and if I can be honest, though the team performed in all of them super well, I think this is the race that fits us best. Even without Andreas (GER-Klier) and Heinrich (Ger-Haussler) here, we still had a great team today. Everything went according to plan. What can you do about Cancellera? He had a super day again we saw him like this in the world championships time trial and other times and we expected him but we still are focused on the long race.

"At the start we wanted someone in the breakaway who could wait at the end and get these guys up and work with them, that was Jeremy, he is fantastic, he has a nose for this. He went with nineteen riders in the forest of Arenburg and is still with the nine that are left and after that he waited for our riders and helped them when they needed it. In the deep final we just had Thor and Roger and from Roger we had a great performance. Thor we knew he was coming. The past week was a bit unlucky but today he was there. I think he is almost 100% and second is a good place to get, I think he is happy with it. And you can see Roger got 4th, Jeremy got 18th and overall that makes us the most dominant team in the race and that makes us really proud."

“I feel like I’m getting back to my old self,” said Thor Hushovd after today’s race. “ Roger and Jeremy Hunt (GBR), the whole team did a fantastic job today keeping pace at the front. I was really, really tired at the end but I managed to edge out Flecha.”

Cervelo TestTeam press release