Thor Hushovd is one of the strongest all-round riders in the peloton. He may not dominate in the sprints quite so much since the emergence of Mark Cavendish, but his two Tour de France green jersey victories prove his pedigree.
Predictably nicknamed "The God of Thunder", the Norwegian enjoyed a wonderful spell for Credit Agricole from 2000 through until 2008, mopping up the Tour de France green jersey in 2005 and the Vuelta points title in 2006.
He broke into the big time with a commanding Under-23 World Championship Time Trial victory back in 1998, doubling up with an U23 Paris-Roubaix triumph before turning professional.
After doing his apprenticeship at various races around the world, the fearsome Hushovd grabbed a share of the Tour spotlight by claiming Stage Five in the 2001 Tour.
Not only that, he bagged wins in the Tour de Normandie, Tour of Sweden and Paris-Correze, adding a Stage 18 win in the 2002 Tour before a fallow 2003 got his juices flowing for an improved 2004.
He became the only Norwegian to hold the maillot jaune, winning Stage 8 to boot, alongside a host of other stage victories together with national Time Trial and Road Race garlands.
It was 2005, however, that signalled his tactical dominance when he slipped on his first green jersey without a Tour de France stage win to his name. No mean feat.
He won the Tour prologue in 2006, holding onto the yellow jersey for two further stages, before winning Stage 20. His points victory in the Vuelta later that year underlined his superb form.
A few stage wins the next two years saw the cycling world putting question marks over his form, but a switch to the Cervelo TestTeam for 2009 brought him another Tour maillot vert and stage wins galore.
His success was not without controversy: on Stage 14 which finished in a sprint in Colmar, Cavendish won the stage ahead of Hushovd but was stripped of the victory after race officials ruled he had illegally blocked Hushovd in the sprint.
Edged into third in the green jersey standings by Petacchi and Cavendish in the 2010 Tour, Hushovd has switched to the Garmin-Cervelo team for this year.
And after winning last autumn's world road race title in Australia, and beginning to show some form in the 2011 Tour de Suisse, he'll be hoping to make his mark on the race again this year.