Thor Hushovd takes lead in Tour of Missouri

Norwegian Thor "God of Thunder” Hushovd. Photo: www.cervelo.com

ROLLA, MO − (September 9, 2009) − In a chaotic sprint after a day of serpentine climbing, sprinter Thor Hushovd (Cervelo Test Team) edged out Juan Jose Haedo (Saxo Bank) for the Stage 3, presented by Emerson, win today at the Tour of Missouri.

Argentina’s Haedo crossed the line with Italy’s Dario Cataldo (Quick Step), both two/tenths of a second behind Hushovd.  Hushovd finished in 4 hours, 26 minutes, 50.4 seconds.

The win put the Norwegian “God of Thunder” in a virtual tie for the overall lead with Mark Cavendish (Columbia-HTC), who had worn the Missouri Tourism Leader’s Jersey for the first two days of the race. In the general classification (G.C.), both riders have a time of 11.27’19” after three days of racing. Hushovd will take over the Missouri Tourism Leader’s Jersey based on the aggregate of place finishes. Cavendish finished fifth on today’s stage.

“It’s always good to be in yellow and first of all I’m more happy to win a stage because of course it’s confusing to get beaten by Cavendish every time, so I’m really happy to win. For me it was a perfect final, and all my teammates on Cervelo Test Team, they did a really great job,” said Hushovd, who won the prestigious green sprinter’s jersey as the Points Classification leader in the 2009 Tour de France. “When we have yellow jersey we have more responsibility. Tomorrow we see what we can do; we do our best to keep this jersey for as long as possible.”

Read more on: Tourofmissouri.com and Cervelo.com

To watch video of finish click here