Thor 'The Norwhinger' Hushovd

BdeB

Just saw the ITV interview from yesterday with Hushovd reaction to Cav's disqualification. Thor is coming across as a really bad sport and a real whinger. If he wins green, which it looks like he will, people will always say it is because Cav got DQ'ed, even though he might have won it anyway. Shame spoilt a good race.

rockmount

BdeB wrote:

Just saw the ITV interview from yesterday with Hushovd reaction to Cav's disqualification. Thor is coming across as a really bad sport and a real whinger. If he wins green, which it looks like he will, people will always say it is because Cav got DQ'ed, even though he might have won it anyway. Shame spoilt a good race.

It's his job, he felt disadvantaged, what's he supposed to do ??

pedylan

Tbh he didn't say anything that controversial, just that he agreed with the decision as he felt he was run into the barriers. he wasn't gobbing off.

There's no need to speculate who would have won - if the final gap is more than the points Cav lost then it made no difference, if it's less then it did.

Hushovd is looking a better bet to pick points up on the lumpy or even the mountain stages so maybe he's a better all round performer at the moment.

Fastlad

No. Cavendish spoilt a good race, almost putting Hushovd into the barrier!!! I suggest to you that Thor Hushovd is vastly more experienced than Mark Cavendish and wouldn't be calling for disqualification if he didn't feel he was 100% correct. Mummies boy or not, thor is taking no sh!t from wee Mr. attitude.

deal

Cavendish came across far worse during his itv interview. At one point saying something like Thor might try to get him DQ'd for eating the wrong cereal bar or something, acted like a child.

Kléber

One detail, I don't know if it's come out yet, is that the commissaires jury penalised Cavendish before the Cervelo team approached the race officials to rule on the matter.

BdeB

To tell you the truth it was more the whinging the day before when he got pipped for a place on the line, that got me thinking about him. Then i thought of the pun i used in the title of this thread and thought it was funny and wanted to use it.

Le Commentateur

He's an opportunist who, perhaps unexpectedly, hit the jackpot yesterday.

marinerrr

pedylan wrote:

There's no need to speculate who would have won - if the final gap is more than the points Cav lost then it made no difference, if it's less then it did.

I don't think that's true - Cavendish is not going to ride for intermediates when he might well have done, in fact I think almost certainly would have done - potentially early on today or on Friday or even on the early flat parts on Saturday so it's not as simple as adding the points back on to see who would have won. Similarly Hushovd would have had to have fought for intermediates too, so the race would have been ridden very differently.

Cavendish came across far worse during his itv interview. At one point saying something like Thor might try to get him DQ'd for eating the wrong cereal bar or something, acted like a child.

Hmm, to me that just came across as a joke, and by contrast I thought he came across as quite mature, acknowledging that it was a small event in the grand scheme of things, in the context of the spectator dying yesterday. Obviously he just can't win with a lot of people.

carrock

contrast cavendish interview with armstrongs

both of them had their tour hopes effectively dashed today- armstrong was philosphical and gracious- cavendish came across as a spoilt child who needs a good slap

at least more attention will be rightly focused on wiggins from a british viewpoint- a great all rounder- not just a great sprinter...some might remember cavendish flouncing off in a huff after failing to win the madision in beijing- not learnt much since then- although he hasn't got anything left to learn according to his interview last year....

He's a great rider, but has a bad attitude

fast as fupp

carrock wrote:

contrast cavendish interview with armstrongs

both of them had their tour hopes effectively dashed today- armstrong was philosphical and gracious- cavendish came across as a spoilt child who needs a good slap

at least more attention will be rightly focused on wiggins from a british viewpoint- a great all rounder- not just a great sprinter...some might remember cavendish flouncing off in a huff after failing to win the madision in beijing- not learnt much since then- although he hasn't got anything left to learn according to his interview last year....

He's a great rider, but has a bad attitude

he had every right to be p'd off with wiggins after the madison- wiggins went into the only event his 'big mate' had a medal chance in with a half ar$ed attitude

carrock

think wiggins only crime was to be tired after winning 2 gold medals- my understanding was the other teams conspired to shut out wiggins and cavendish

Le Commentateur

To be fair to Wiggins the madison is more of a lottery than the other events and as touted favourites from a team that had won golds all week they were going to be marked from the off, making their chances even harder.

Personally I think Cav had the wrong partner for that one, but that's the selector's fault.

FOAD

Kléber wrote:

One detail, I don't know if it's come out yet, is that the commissaires jury penalised Cavendish before the Cervelo team approached the race officials to rule on the matter.

So you just made this up?

Hushovd himself said they made the complaint and then it was ruled on by the officials. I guess he got it wrong. As for alleging that Cav saw that he was going to come past, I did lol at that one.

It is nice to see that so many people dislike Cav severely though, and quite obviously it's the same people that couldn't make an unbiased decision on bugger all relating to the poor lad (a bit like Mr Bruin from Holland).

Once again, the UK comes up with a born winner and because he has a bit of arrogance and swagger, and speaks his mind, he is ridiculed by people who have achieved bugger all in their lives that can be compared with his success.

But pull out a loser (ie. never a winner of anything remotely important) who is as nice as pie, cue "tiger" lol Tim Henman, and everyone loves him. Almost encourages people to fail!

stagehopper

FOAD wrote:

Kléber wrote:

One detail, I don't know if it's come out yet, is that the commissaires jury penalised Cavendish before the Cervelo team approached the race officials to rule on the matter.

So you just made this up?

He didn't. The head commissaire made this comment - saw it earlier on TV.

FOAD

I have watched the ES and ITV coverage and didn't see it.

stagehopper

FOAD wrote:

I have watched the ES and ITV coverage and didn't see it.

Well I did on one of those two programmes. And I'm fully behind Cav on this as I've said it was a diabolically bad decision.

Bhima

Cav blatantly held his own line. It's the barriers that moved.

Cav kept looking left to see where Hushovd was. He looked confused when he couldn't see him over his left at the end so I don't even think he knew Thor was trying to move to the right. Cav looked as though he thought Thor was going to move left, hence him constantly looking left. The genuine look of confusion on his face when he didn't see him on the left couldn't really be faked.

Poor decision by the judges. It wasn't Cav's fault.

There was a guilty look on Thor's face this morning. Perhaps he'd seen the footage and realised he was wrong.

iainf72

FOAD wrote:

So you just made this up?

Hushovd himself said they made the complaint and then it was ruled on by the officials. I guess he got it wrong. As for alleging that Cav saw that he was going to come past, I did lol at that one.

Nope. Martin Bruin, the UCI official confirmed they'd decided before they were approached.

Big Wib

IMO, its not the decision that wrong, its the penalty.

Previously for a DQ you've practically had to be flighting as in the Robbie McEwen incident. I think the places shoud just have been reversed and then at least we'd still have had a competition

Monty Dog

Harsh decision IMO - in comparison to previous 'racing incidents' in sprinting where the guys are bouncing off each other - Hushovd wasn't even going full bore and Cav isn't the type of rider to ride someone into the barriers - he looks like he was genuinely blind-sided.

flattythehurdler

FOAD wrote:

Kléber wrote:

One detail, I don't know if it's come out yet, is that the commissaires jury penalised Cavendish before the Cervelo team approached the race officials to rule on the matter.

So you just made this up?

Hushovd himself said they made the complaint and then it was ruled on by the officials. I guess he got it wrong. As for alleging that Cav saw that he was going to come past, I did lol at that one.

It is nice to see that so many people dislike Cav severely though, and quite obviously it's the same people that couldn't make an unbiased decision on bugger all relating to the poor lad (a bit like Mr Bruin from Holland).

Once again, the UK comes up with a born winner and because he has a bit of arrogance and swagger, and speaks his mind, he is ridiculed by people who have achieved bugger all in their lives that can be compared with his success.

But pull out a loser (ie. never a winner of anything remotely important) who is as nice as pie, cue "tiger" lol Tim Henman, and everyone loves him. Almost encourages people to fail!

+1

robmanic1

Cav IS the best sprinter at this time, Thor IS probably the most consistant sprinter and, as stated earlier, probably deserves to be in green in Paris. It's just a shame his team felt the need to protest against Cav in what was a dubious decision at best, he's gone right down in my estimation, I honestly though he was bigger than that, you can only put it down to frustration that he knows, in a straight drag-race to the line, Cav will do him every time, so his only defence is to protest at every opportunity. There have been far worse infringements during sprints over the years that have gone unpunished, I'm willing to bet if Cav wasn't a Brit, there wouldn't have been an issue (awaits flaming!)

Bikr23

This is the best thing that could happen to Cav. Now he may make it to Paris since he's not fighting for points

BdeB

To compare Cavendish's interview with Armstrongs is ridiculous. I thought Cav came across very well. Yes he is a cocky young rider but he also doesn't think he is perfect (off the bike) and will admit to mistakes. To compare a 24yo who has been in the public eye for 18 months or so to a 37yo who has lived in the full media glare for a decade or more and is one of the most media savvy people around is massively unfair on Cav. Maybe you were an extremely mature 24yo. Personally i think Cav is handling his exceptional talent and ever increasing profile very well. If he is still a bit petulant at 37 then we can caompare him to Armstrong and other riders and tut and shake our head. At the moment lets just enjoy a young brit having fun, winning (putting his foot in it occasionally) and giving british cycling the profile most of us have probably wished for for years.

aberdeen_lune

At the end of the day it looks like the best sprinter won't win the sprinters jersey which is sad. Thor Hushovd was clearly wrong to appeal this is obvious when you see the coverage from above. The barriers were poorly placed and even if they werent there was no way Hushovd would have came past Cav. The commisaire should have been man enough to reverse his decision. The personality thing shouldnt come into it.

drumon

BdeB wrote:

To compare Cavendish's interview with Armstrongs is ridiculous. I thought Cav came across very well. Yes he is a cocky young rider but he also doesn't think he is perfect (off the bike) and will admit to mistakes. To compare a 24yo who has been in the public eye for 18 months or so to a 37yo who has lived in the full media glare for a decade or more and is one of the most media savvy people around is massively unfair on Cav. Maybe you were an extremely mature 24yo. Personally i think Cav is handling his exceptional talent and ever increasing profile very well. If he is still a bit petulant at 37 then we can caompare him to Armstrong and other riders and tut and shake our head. At the moment lets just enjoy a young brit having fun, winning (putting his foot in it occasionally) and giving british cycling the profile most of us have probably wished for for years.

Agree. Look at Wayne Rooney and his past exploits off the pitch, not a great role model is he. Though seems to have improved now. Cavendish will improve too, off the bike.

iainf72

Aberdeen_lune wrote:

At the end of the day it looks like the best sprinter won't win the sprinters jersey which is sad. Thor Hushovd was clearly wrong to appeal this is obvious when you see the coverage from above. The barriers were poorly placed and even if they werent there was no way Hushovd would have came past Cav. The commisaire should have been man enough to reverse his decision. The personality thing shouldnt come into it.

If the best sprinter has bothered going for the points on the road, maybe he would've won. It's about being consistant - I remember Cav even remarked on how hard that would be.

oscarbudgie

Aberdeen_lune wrote:

At the end of the day it looks like the best sprinter won't win the sprinters jersey which is sad. Thor Hushovd was clearly wrong to appeal this is obvious when you see the coverage from above. The barriers were poorly placed and even if they werent there was no way Hushovd would have came past Cav. The commisaire should have been man enough to reverse his decision. The personality thing shouldnt come into it.

+1 . I think we'll end up in Paris with Cav having won 5 stages to Hushovd's one yet still losing Green because of an iniquitous points system that doesn't reward winning enough and an unfair disqualification. The TdF have also shot themselves in the foot again by removing one of the most dramatic elements of the Tour (the fight for the green jersey) which should have gone down to the wire in Paris....
I also wonder if Cav is paying the price for some of his previous comments by attracting this penalty....would another cotinental Europe rider have been punished similarly - I don't think so.

alex16zx

FOAD wrote:

But pull out a loser (ie. never a winner of anything remotely important) who is as nice as pie, cue "tiger" lol Tim Henman, and everyone loves him. Almost encourages people to fail!

Henman never a winner of anything remotely important? Exxcept for his Masters title, of course...beating Federer, Roddick, Davydenko, Kuerten and Grosjean on the way! Tim didn't make it to World Number one but he got to the top 4 in the world. In a solo sport that is also an incredible achievement. I agree that we do sometimes have a culture of celebrating losers who have good spirit and it does annoy me, but Tim isn't one of those people for me.

timoid.

Aberdeen_lune wrote:

At the end of the day it looks like the best sprinter won't win the sprinters jersey which is sad. Thor Hushovd was clearly wrong to appeal this is obvious when you see the coverage from above. The barriers were poorly placed and even if they werent there was no way Hushovd would have came past Cav. The commisaire should have been man enough to reverse his decision. The personality thing shouldnt come into it.

Its not the best sprinter's jersey, its the most consistent rider. And that rider is Thor.

Contrary to opinion on here, he didn't whinge, he just backed the judge's decison. You people need to get a grip.

Anyone else see the crass ITV interview where they asked Hushovd if the jersey was devalued as he "didn't win it fair and square". I'd have punched the interviewer's lights out.