Boonen is slowly becoming a pain towards Hushovd, lets hope that Thor will soon get the better of him soon

And a Great fourth place from Hansen in Switzerland

Ian & Daggen: It's a funny race. The group attacked at the exact same time as Carlström did for his win in 2012, but he did good.

sutty68: Boonen can have the first couple of races, if Thor can have Ronde van Vlaanderen and Roubaix

Sounds like a fair deal

The third of the early cobble classics. Today with no Boonen, so everything is up for grabs.
From the start McDermott gets in the break, and end up losing the others behind on the cobble sections.

10 km from goal Hushovd put on the pressure on cobbles and gets to Ista in front. Looks like the duo to decide until Saramotins and Schierlinx come up from behind.
While riders crash on every side of the road an additional 12 riders manage to come up to the quartet, but no one is anywhere near beating Thor!



Results:
1. Thor Hushovd, Falcon - STARK
2. Kevyn Ista, Accent Jbs – Willem’s Verandas
3. Frederic Amorison, Landbouwkredit - Euphony

HUSHOVD!!!

Hopefully that deal has come early

Hushovd finally does it. And in style. Great Job

Introducing:


Welcome to the new cycling magazine �The Rear Wheel – Behind Nordic Cycling�!
We are an online provider of news and interviews focusing on riders and teams from the Nordic Countries, as well as the main competitors. Since this is the first issue you are welcome to guide us towards what you want.

Exclusive Interview – Thor Hushovd

[img-l]https://www.oakley.com/a/d5/14/BAh7CGkKIgo5Nng5NmkLbCsHu5FYT2kIaQOgmQI.jpg[/img-l]Just after Paris – Nice Thor Hushovd and the rest of Falcon – Norheims cobbles-team are to go on a training-camp in Geraadsbergen, Belgium. The rear wheel has been granted an exclusive interview with the former World Champion. We have been told the interview has no off-limit topics, so now we ask you: What question should we ask Thor Hushovd?



The two first months have only featured few major races, which we will not report in detail except for a few highlights:
Australian Championships: Michael Rogers won the roadrace in front of Matthew Goss and Richie Porte. Porte won the TT.

Rider of the month, February: Alessandro Petacchi, Lampre – ISD. The Italian dominated Tour of Qatar winning every single stage except the TTT, the points jersey and the GC.
Young rider of the month, February: Miguel Minguez, Euskaltel – Euskadi. This young Basque rider won the mountain jersey in Vuelta a Andalucía through some very strong attacks.
Nordic rider of the month, February: Thor Hushovd, Falcon – STARK. Thor has already proven very valuable to his new team winning Le Samyn, a stage in Vuelta a Mallorca and getting a lot of podiums the last month. It appears Thor Hushovd is back as we know and love him!

World tour ranking:
1. Matthew Goss, Orica - GreenEdge
2. Roberto Ferrari, Liquigas - Cannondale
3. Borut Bozic, Astana
4. Kjell Carlström, Falcon - STARK
5. Thor Hushovd, Falcon – STARK

1. Orica – GreenEdge
2. Falcon – STARK
3. Liquigas – Cannondale
12. Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank

CQ-ranking:
1 . Alessandro Petacchi, Lampre – ISD
2. Thor Hushovd, Falcon - STARK
3. Matthew Goss, Orica - GreenEdge
22. Kjell Carlström, Falcon - STARK
31. Jesper Hansen, Falcon - STARK
84. Christofer Stevenson, Falcon - STARK

1. AG2R La Mondiale
2. Movistar
3. Lampre – ISD
4. Falcon – STARK
40. Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank
53. Christina Watches – Onfone
60. Joker Merida
NA. Blue Water
NA. Concordia Forsikring
NA. Glud & Marstrand
NA. Svenska Cyklister
NA. Øster Hus

Hushovd up there on top in the classification, amazing!

Carlstrom doing well in 4th in the top standings with Hushovd right behind. Great job

Nordic Rider of the Month, very nice

I've been reading this story since the beginning and it is amazing! Hope you continue for long time and good luck for March's races.

Btw, nice riding from Hushovd

Ian Butler: He really have had an amazing first 1½ month in the team. Lets hope he can keep the form till after the big cobble classics.

Jakstar22: Carlström is doing well, but after all this only after TDU on the World Tour, so much can (and will) change.

Sutty: Thanks . Figured that a Nordic cycling magazine would have to have something like that

Luigi: Thanks a lot I certainly plan to keep the story going for many seasons

Falcon wants us to hold the leaders jersey, and we will do everything to make that come true.

Stage 1 – Prologue
A short prologue with a cobble section is not the worst way for us to start the race.
Nybö is first Falcon out and he gets provisional best on the top of the cobbles hill. Unfortunately he lost a lot of speed on the final few kilometers of the course. Lars Bak is first rider to beat Nybös intermediate best. Hopefully he can keep up the steam right to the finish, but no he crosses the line in 7th best time.

Last Falcon out is Thor Hushovd, who once again improves the best intermediate time, and Thor does what no other could: beating Tony Martin by a second. Of to the hotseat for Thor!
No riders were able to beat Thor on the cobbles before the intermediate time, and it appears the cobbles was hard on Wiggins and Valverde, as neither of them were anywhere near their usual TT-performances.

Stage Results:
1. Thor Hushovd, Falcon – STARK
2. Tony Martin, Omega Pharma - QuickStep
3. Luis Leon Sanchez, Movistar
8. Lars Ytting Bak, Falcon – STARK
Leader: Thor Hushovd, Falcon – STARK
Points: Thor Hushovd, Falcon – STARK
Mountain: Thor Hushovd, Falcon – STARK



Stage 2 – Flat
Time to defend the leaders jersey while we chased a good result. When the early break got going Jens Erik Madsen jumped right in there to keep an eye on things and force the sprinters teams to the front if they wanted the bunch sprint, as Jens Erik is fast enough to do well in a small group sprint. Omega Pharma – Quickstep was really determined today and already with 80 km to go the peloton was brought back together. They must really believe in Steegmans today!

Lars Bak did great to keep Thor well positioned for the sprint, but the great Norwegian chose the wrong wheel and got trapped behind Grega Bole with 500 m to go.

Stage Results:
1. André Greipel, Lotto Belisol
2. José Joaquín Rojas, Movistar
3. Laurent Pichon, Saur - Sojasun
4. Thor Hushovd, Falcon – STARK
Leader: Thor Hushovd, Falcon – STARK
Points: Thor Hushovd, Falcon – STARK
Mountain: Thor Hushovd, Falcon – STARK



Stage 3 – Flat with small hills
This could be a day for the break as well as for the strongest sprinters.
BOTD contained 11 riders from 10 teams, but Omega Pharma – Quickstep has this marked as another one for Greipel…
Falcon – STARK and Lampre – ISD did good work for their captains, but Hushovd opened the sprint a bit early allowing Bole to follow his wheel until going past for the win.

Stage Results:
1. Grega Bole, Lampre - ISD
2. Fabien Bacquet, Europcar
3. Thor Hushovd, Falcon – STARK
Leader: Thor Hushovd, Falcon – STARK
Points: Thor Hushovd, Falcon – STARK



Stage 4 – Hilly
Grönlund found his way to the break hoping to get going in the KOM. But with competition like Hesjedal, Wiggins and Ten Dam, Gunnar doesn’t stand a chance in the sprint.

Soon after everything was brought back together. A strong break got away on the steepest hill, and none of the teams in the peloton had the capacity to wheel them in. To minimize the timeloss Hushovd attacked early from the peloton. He wins half a minute on the peloton but loses the GC lead to Cyril Gautier.

Stage Results:
1. Sebastian Langeveld, Orica - GreenEdge
2. Carlos Betancour, Acqua & Sapone
3. Wout Poels, Euskaltel - Euskadi
10 Thor Hushovd, Falcon – STARK
Points: Thor Hushovd, Falcon – STARK

As I have said many times GO THOR!!!!!!!!!

Already a successful P-N so far

Thor has got off to a Brilliant start in Paris-Nice, lets hope he can keep it up until the end

A couple of the young lads have been given this opportunity to do their best without any pressure.

Stage 1
This stage is expected to be a bunch sprint, but with a few decent hills on the way, things might not turn out as Cavendish & Co. is hoping.
A largely uneventful day though Jesper Hansen got to lead the peloton over the biggest hill of the day thus winning the only mountain sprint this far. The sprinters hot their way, but Team Sky’s sprint train delivered Cavendish way too soon.

Stage Results:
1. Alessandro Petacchi, Lampre - ISD
2. Elia Favilli, Farnese Vini – Selle Italia
3. Mark Cavendish, Sky
57. Jesper Hansen, Falcon – STARK
Mountains: Jesper Hansen, Falcon – STARK



Stage 2
Should be another one for the sprinters, but a few smaller hills could be the offset for a break.
For most of the stage the scenario was this: A lot of riders attacking while Lampre – ISD made sure none of them had any success. At least not until Christopher Juul-Jensen attacked. None followed him and he ended up in a grand solo effort with a gap of nearly 6 minutes when best. In the end everything goes as planned…

Stage Results:
1. Francesco Gavazzi, Astana
2. Alessandro Petacchi, Lampre - ISD
3. Elia Favilli, Farnese Vini – Selle Italia
44. Jesper Hansen, Falcon – STARK
Mountains: Christopher Juul-Jensen, Falcon – STARK

Nice to get in the mountains

That's some good results . Let's go Thor æøå