Thor Hushovd

Recently The New York Times Magazine did a lengthy and, to me, interesting piece about the decline of athletes in general and Derek Jeter as they aged. The conclusion was that since men tend to lose fast twitch muscle as they age, and baseball is inherently a fast twitch muscle sport, a ball player's decline is inevitable, even if he is in his top shape. Since slow twitch muscle decreases at a lower rate, an athlete can have more overall strength, but the balance tips in favor of the slow twitch muscles.

So what does this have to do with Thor? In his younger days Thor was a pure sprinter. He could climb pretty well for a sprinter, but he was definitely a sprinter. In 2009 Thor won him a green jersey by attacking on stage 17 and staying out over a couple of mountain passes to build his lead in the green jersey competition. Now he has taken 2 Tour de France stages in the mountains. And the guy's a sprinter? What happened? I suppose he got older and lost some fast twitch muscle. Thor himself admitted as much, without realizing it. Normally loss of athletic performance is replaced by 'craftiness'. Thor replaced his declining fast twitch muscle with more slow twitch muscle. He's now a much faster climber and more able to run out on the mountain stages. I'd expect to see more stage wins from Thor in the future, especially in these types of stages.