Maybe it’s the long winter nights in his native Norway or perhaps he’s the peloton’s only practicing Buddhist.

Thor Hushovd is not only fast, he’s always one of the most patient riders in the peloton. The ever-steady Norwegian never lost faith following a string of bad luck and crashes dating back almost a year.

That penchant for patience paid off Wednesday when he ended nearly a year-long winless drought with a dominant sprint victory on the road into Joigny.

“This is a very big win for me,” Hushovd said. “I prepared very well for the spring classics but I got sick right before Milan-San Remo and I wasn’t able to race the entire Classics season. I raced the Giro this year to regain my strength and I came to the Tour in good form. It’s a relief.”

The Norwegian sprung off Julian Dean’s wheel with 250 meters to go to hold off a fast-charging Robert Hunter (Barloworld) to step into the winner’s circle for the first time since the sixth stage of last year’s Vuelta a España.

The victory is Hushovd’s fifth career Tour stage victory (four stages and one prologue) and makes up for a frustrating spring that tested his patience. Two second places in the Giro bolstered his confidence and a hard week of racing at the Dauphiné Libéré put the finishing touches on his Tour form.

“I felt confident when I started the Tour. I knew that I had done my job before arriving. In my head I knew I would win a stage this year. I was sure that my form wasn’t too bad,” he said. “The first sprint I was second, so that was good. I had two hard days and now I have won here and I hope the work I did last winter pays off for the rest of this Tour.”

Hushovd is coming off two spectacular Tours. In 2005, he became the first Norwegian to win the green points jersey (which came without winning a stage) and last year he won the opening prologue and the final stage on the Champs Élysées to bookend a great run.

His still has a nasty scar on upper right arm as a souvenir from last year when he collided with a fan during the first stage that left his gushing blood on the finish line.

“This scar reminds me of trying to overcome difficulties,” he said. “Last year I had a great Tour but this year I’ve had some problems with my health. I’m finally finding my strength just in time for the Tour.”

This year, he knew repeating his yellow jersey performance in the prologue wasn’t in the cards, but he was angry after crashing in stage two into Ghent and sprinting poorly into 11th yesterday at Compiègne.

“The prologue was too hard for me and I wasn’t too disappointed,” he said. “I was angry after crashing (in stage 2) because I lost 30 points to McEwen and Boonen in the race for the green jersey. I was very angry, but after dinner I calmed down and decided I needed to look ahead and be patient.”

With the time bonus and points, Hushovd suddenly bounced into contention for both the green and yellow jerseys. He’s now fifth in points with 79 to Boonen’s 98 and second overall at 29 seconds behind Fabian Cancellara for yellow.

“I don’t know if I will be able to capture the maillot jaune. I had to forget about it after when I saw Cancellara winning the stage yesterday,” he said. “It’s sure when you’re second that you always have it in your mind. We’ll see what happens tomorrow. For green, you have to be patient.”

Hushovd has already shown he has plenty of that.

Cancellara knows end is near
The days are numbered for Fabian Cancellara’s yellow jersey run and he knows it.

The big Swiss time machine added some life to his maillot jaune spell thanks to his dramatic victory Tuesday at Compiègne that added 20 seconds to his lead on the peloton’s sprinters, but one way or another, Cancellara admits the inevitable will happen.

“I know if I don’t lose it before, I will certainly lose it in the mountains,” he said, stating the obvious after enjoying his fourth day in yellow. “I don’t know how much longer I will keep this jersey, so every day is very special.”

Cancellara saw Hushovd pull within 29 seconds thanks to the Norwegian’s dramatic sprint victory into Joigny, but there are two more flat stages between the peloton and the first climbing stage into Le Grand Bornand on Saturday.

Even if Hushovd were to win Thursday, he’d need mid-race hot points to overcome the difference going into Friday’s flatter stage ahead of the Alps.

Thursday’s lumpy stage into Autun – the hilliest so far with eight rated climbs including a Cat. 2 with about 55km to go – could spring the Tour’s first successful breakaway.

“The other riders want some of this cake that it is the Tour de France, but they have to take it away from us, we won’t give it away,” Cancellara said. “We will defend so long as it’s possible.”

It’s obvious Cancellara is a rider who like to have his cake and eat it too. The Alps, however, will put an end to his yellow fete if the sprinters don’t do it before then.Injury forces Di Gregorio out of Tour
French climbing specialist Remy Di Gregorio was forced to pull out of the Tour de France Wednesday after fracturing his elbow.

The Francaise des Jeux rider suffered the injury in Tuesday's fourth stage.

X-rays taken after he'd trailed in eight minutes behind the main pack in Wednesday's fifth stage confirmed the problem.

"He'll have to be operated on," said team doctor Gerard Guillaume.

Di Gregorio, 21, who won the King Of the Mountains jersey in this season's Dauphine, fell at the 63 kilometer marker in Tuesday's stage from Waregem in Belgium to Compiegne. Caisse d'Epargne's Xabier Zandio withdrew after breaking his collarbone in the same accident.