Hushovd quietly bows out of professional cycling

BMC's Thor Hushovd retired quietly from professional cycling after racing in the GP Impanis-Van Petegem on Saturday.

The 2010 UCI road world champion finished 48th in the Belgian race after a victory by team mate Greg Van Avermaet.

Beset by illness and injury over the past few months, Hushovd was nevertheless happy with his 15-year stint in the professional peloton.

Regarded as the greatest ever Norwegian cyclist, Hushovd walks away form the sport with a swag of victories to his name.

He notched up his first win as a professional on April 29, 2000, he went on to add a world title on the road, stages of all three grand tours, two points classification titles at the Tour de France (2005 and 2009) and three Norwegian national road (2004, 2010 and 2013) and time trial (2002, 2004 and 2005) titles.

His last career win came at his home race, the Arctic Race of Norway where he took the overall title, as well as the final stage.