Norway’s sprinting ace Thor “Thunder God” Hushovd got tangled up with a spectators big green hand embossed with the name of PMU (the French national office of betting) as he made a made dash to the line in stage one’s final sprint in hopes of retaining his yellow jersey.
It was really quite strange and weird to watch on TV, one minute the Credit Agricole rider was sprinting just fine with no visible problems. Then soon after the sprint finished up Thor was down on the ground and his arm was pouring with blood. First thoughts was that Hushovd crashed just after the line but after inspection of the replay it was evident that the rider simply clashed with the large plastic green hand which resulted in the nasty cut.
The good news coming out of France is that Thor will be able to race again tomorrow, the cut resulted in only four stitches. World Champ Tom Boonen mentioned to reporters afterward that he also clashed with a spectators cam-corder during the race on Sunday. “I was hit in the shoulder by a cam-corder. I felt an electric discharge, it really hurt,” said the Belgian who is one of the best sprinters in the world.
With Hushovd returning to the race expect to see the Norwegian rider go for some of the intermediate sprints in order to re-capture the coveted yellow jersey once again before the race hits the mountains.
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