Hushovd sprints to victory in Tour de France

Norwegian Thor Hushovd won stage two of the Tour de France with a fantastic sprint finish in the final 300 metres between Auray and Saint Brieuc today.

The Credit Agricole rider snatched the win on the line from Colombia’s Kim Kirchen, who had looked set to win Stage One yesterday before being passed right at the finish.

Kirchen was in hot pursuit of Hushovd today but again came up just short as the Norwegian clinched his sixth stage win in the event.

“It’s already a good start,” said Hushovd. “I don’t know if I can win more but it’s a good start.

“I hope to win another stage or two, but now I don’t have the pressure and I can relax more.”

Kirchen’s Colombian team-mate Gerald Ciolek took third, with Robert Hunter of Barloworld in fourth and Team Milram’s Erik Zabel in fifth.

Iouri Trofimov (Bouygues Telecom) finished sixth ahead of Rabobank’s Oscar Freire, who picked up his second top-10 finish.

Jimmy Casper (Agritubel), Martin Elmiger (AG2R La Mondiale) and Leonardo Duque (Cofidis) completed the top 10 today.