Born in
Grimstad,
Aust-Agder, Norway, Thor won the under-23 time trial world championship and the under-23 versions of
Paris–Roubaix and
Paris–Tours before turning professional in 1998. He was Norwegian time trial champion in 2004 and 2005 and road race champion in 2004 and 2010. In 2006, he won seven
UCI ProTour races and two stages of the Tour de France. He won the prologue in
Strasbourg and led after the first day despite a cut arm. He continued with stitches and regained the yellow jersey after stage 2 with a third place. He won the last stage, beating
Robbie McEwen in a sprint, thus making him the only person to win the first stage or prologue and the last stage of the Tour de France in the same year. In the
2006 Vuelta a España he won stage 6, wore the golden jersey for three stages and won the
points classification At the
2008 Tour de France, Hushovd won stage 2 in a bunch finish.
2009 In 2009, Hushovd rode for the . He took one of the team's first victories of the season by winning Stage 3 of the
Tour of California. At the
Tour de France, he won green jersey for the points classification for the second time, ahead of
Mark Cavendish. Typically the sprinter with the most stage victories wins the points classification, though Thor only won one stage,
stage 6, while Cavendish won six. After a controversy on stage 14, where Cavendish was relegated to the back of the peloton for impeding Hushovd, Hushovd attacked alone on
stage 17, a mountain stage, winning two intermediate sprints. Hushovd won stage 3 at the Tour of Missouri – over rolling hills – in September 2009, in a sprint finish.
2010 On 9 May 2010, Hushovd broke his collarbone on a training ride after colliding with a young girl. At the
Tour de France, Hushovd won the third stage, which was an unusual one for the Tour since it featured of
cobblestones. He prevailed in the sprint involving five other riders. That victory netted him the Green jersey, but he ultimately lost it to
Alessandro Petacchi of the team. On 3 October 2010, Thor won the
road world championship, which started in
Melbourne and finished in
Geelong, Australia. He was the first Norwegian to win the rainbow jersey.
VeloNews said: "Hushovd...dominated a bunch sprint at the end of a thrilling 267 km race, beating Denmark's
Matti Breschel and Australia's
Allan Davis." The favorite,
Philippe Gilbert, was caught with three kilometers to go.
2011 During the
2011 Tour de France Hushovd took the lead in the
general classification and surprised many by keeping it through several hilly stages that were not expected to suit him and second placed
Cadel Evans could not over turn the 1 second advantage that Hushovd held. Thor surprised his fans again on stage 13 by being one of the first riders over the hors catégorie
Col d'Aubisque and using his superior descending skills (he was clocked at 69 mph at one point) to catch and pass the leaders
David Moncoutié and
Jérémy Roy to take the stage. He used his descending skills again on stage 16 when he,
Edvald Boasson Hagen and teammate
Ryder Hesjedal went clear on the descent of the
Col de Manse (a descent that overall runner up
Andy Schleck deemed too dangerous for the tour) and beat Boasson Hagen in the final sprint to take his second stage of the tour.
2012 In 2012, Hushovd joined on a three-year contract. Suffering from a then unknown medical condition, he had to abandon the
Giro d'Italia and cancelled his scheduled participation to the
Tour de France and
Olympic road race. The medical impairment was later identified as a "virus and muscle inflammation" by team doctors. Thor hardly achieved any notable result in the season except fourteenth at
Paris–Roubaix. In October, he said that he hoped to put the bad year and the virus that ruined it behind him and that he was optimistic and motivated about the 2013 season.
2013 Hushovd earned his first win since the
2011 Tour of Britain with a sprint victory over
Tom-Jelte Slagter of on stage 1 of the
Tour du Haut Var in February. It was also his first victory with .
Retirement In June 2014, Hushovd announced that he would retire after the
2014 UCI Road World Championships after struggling with
Infectious mononucleosis since 2012. However, after a hard crash suffered at the
Tour du Poitou-Charentes, Hushovd said he would not participate in the World Championships. His last race was the
GP Impanis-Van Petegem in September. The plans were put on hold due to lack of funding, although Hushovd never abandoned them. In the meantime, the Norwegian cycling team
Uno-X was established. The team achieved
UCI ProTeam status in 2020. Hushovd was initially not affiliated with Uno-X, although he used his legendary status in the world of cycling to help influence the
ASO in Uno-X's mission for a Wild Card to the
2023 Tour de France. In January 2024, Uno-X announced that Hushovd would become their new General Manager. ==Personal life==