Hushovd shows versatility in winning Tour’s 13th leg

Lourdes, France  — Norwegian sprint specialist Thor Hushovd showed his climbing abilities by winning yesterday’s 13th stage of the Tour de France, overtaking Frenchman Jeremy Roy near the end after making up time on the downhill finish.

Roy thought he had clinched the first Tour stage win of his career by attacking at the foot of the huge climb to Col d’Aubisque, but he did not have a big enough gap to hold off Hushovd and David Moncoutie, who overtook Roy near the line and finished second.

“I really didn’t think I would win this stage,” said Hushovd, who was also part of the Garmin-Cervelo team which won the team time trial early on in the race. “I did things right tactically.”

Defending champion Alberto Contador of Spain and two-time runners-up Andy Schleck and Cadel Evans stayed way back as the main Tour contenders chose to save their energy for today’s mammoth climb up to Plateau de Beille.

“I was pretty tired from yesterday and tomorrow’s a big day,” Evans said. “There’ll be fireworks, don’t worry.”

Complete rider

Hushovd, a two-time winner of the Tour’s green jersey for best sprinter, is more used to dashing to the finish line than grinding uphill, but he has worked hard on his climbing ability to become a more complete rider.

“It’s the best stage I’ve ever won on the Tour de France,” said Hushovd, who has nine individual stage victories and two more from team time trials. “To win on my own is even more special, it’s very emotional for me.”

Thomas Voeckler kept hold of the race leader’s yellow jersey for another day heading in today’s  mammoth climbing stage. He was quick to praise Hushovd, who has also won stages on the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta.

“Thor is the best climber among the sprinters,” Voeckler said. “I’m not surprised by his performance.”

The 33-year-old Hushovd, who won the stage in 3 hours, 47 minutes, 36 seconds, is surprising even himself.

The peloton, including Voeckler, was lagging nearly nine minutes behind Hushovd when he completed the 152.5-kilometer (95-mile) jaunt from Pau to the Catholic shrine town of Lourdes.

The 28-year-old Roy’s previous best on the Tour had been a second-place stage finish in 2008.

Having done most of the hard work climbing, Roy had to stay safe descending the 42 kilometers (26 miles) to the finish. /AP