Ryder Hesjedal

Ryder Hesjedal celebrating the 2012 Giro d'Italia overall win.
Personal information
Born	(1980-12-09) December 9, 1980 (age 31) Victoria, British Columbia  Canada
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	72 kg (160 lb)
Team information
Current team	Garmin-Barracuda
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Climber/Time-Trialist
Professional team(s)
1999–2000 2001–2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008–	SAAB/Gary Fisher Subaru/Gary Fisher US Postal Discovery Channel Phonak Health Net-Maxxis Slipstream-Chipotle
Major wins
Grand Tours Giro d'Italia General Classification (2012) 2 TTT Stages (2008, 2012) Tour de France 1 TTT Stage (2011) Vuelta a España 1 Stage (2009) Mountains classification, Tour de Georgia (2007) Canadian National Time Trial Champion (2007)
Medal record Competitor for  Canada Mountain Bike World Championships Silver 2003 Lugano Cross Country
Infobox last updated on 27 May 2012

Ryder Hesjedal (born Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, 9 December 1980) is a Canadian professional racing cyclist for Garmin-Barracuda. He is a former mountain biker, winning a silver medal at the 2001 Under-23 world championship. He turned professional with Discovery Channel in 2005 after several years with the Rabobank continental team. Having previously finished a best sixth place at the 2010 Tour de France, Hesjedal won his first Grand Tour at the 2012 Giro d'Italia, the first Grand Tour win by a Canadian.

Career[link]

Early career[link]

His career started out with him competing as a mountain bike cyclist. Hesjedal first met success as a two-time world champion in the mountain bike relay event in both 2001 and 2002.^[1] He won silver as an individual at the 2003 world mountain biking championships and competed at the 2004 Olympics for Canada in the mountain bike category. At those games, Hesjedal was on his way to an Olympic medal and likely a gold medal before a sharp rock cut and flattened his tire, ending that Olympic dream.^[2]

Hesjedal competing in the time trial at the 2006 UCI Road World Championships

As a result of both the early success and disappointments in his career, this allowed him to make the full time switch to road cycling.^[2] A climber and time trialist, he was selected by Discovery Channel for the 2005 Giro d'Italia and helped Paolo Savoldelli win, although failing to complete the course himself. After 2005 he joined the Swiss team Phonak. There he began to build some of his best results, finishing fourth in the 2006 Volta a Catalunya and second in the 2006 Canadian time trial championship. Later that season he rode the Vuelta a España, although he dropped out near the end to concentrate on the road world championships in Salzburg. He achieved only modest results. The end of the Phonak team led him to Health Net for 2007. For 2008 he joined Garmin-Slipstream and helped Christian Vande Velde to fourth in the Tour de France.

2009[link]

In 2009 Hesjedal competed in the Vuelta a España, winning the 12th stage. He was the first Canadian to have won a Vuelta stage and the first Canadian individual winner of a Grand Tour stage since Steve Bauer in the 1988 Tour de France.^[3] Hesjedal was the only Canadian to compete in the Tour de France for both 2008 and 2009. He was also the first Canadian to ride in the daunting race in more than 10 years.

At the end of the 2009 year Hesjedal was selected as Canadian cyclist of the decade and male Canadian cyclist of the year. The honour was given to him from Canadian Cyclist and the results came from an online poll.^[4] He was also named male international cyclist of the year of 2009 from Cycling BC.

2010[link]

During the 2010 Tour de France, Hesjedal finished 4th in the third stage, which featured some cobbled sections, after leading by himself for much of the race until being caught in the last 6 km. He was awarded the most combative rider on the day and thus wore red numbers for the fourth stage.^[5] On the 22nd of July 2010 Hesjedal again finished fourth, this time on stage 17 on the famed slopes of the Col du Tourmalet.^[6] Hesjedal went on to finish sixth in the overall classification of the 2010 Tour de France, the highest Canadian finish in the race in 22 years, when Bauer finished fourth in the 1988 Tour de France.^[7] Hesjedal went on to say of his result:^[7]

"I hope this result does positive things for Canadian cycling and motivates the next generation of Canadian cyclists. I hope that’s the biggest thing that comes out of this... This placing will be there [in the books] forever... If this makes more Canadians aware of cycling, and want to cycle, then it will have been worth it for that alone."

—Ryder Hesjedal, about his Tour de France 6th place

2011[link]

Hesjadel had a quiet 2011 year, with a few near wins. He performed well in the 2011 Tour de France though he did not finish as well as his 6th the previous year he came 18th overall and was part of Team Garmin's team time trial victors on stage 2.^[8]

2012[link]

Hesjedal follows Ivan Basso on the 17th stage at the 2012 Giro d'Italia.

Hesjedal rode very strongly in the spring classics, including a 9th placing at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He also rode the first 4 stages of the Tour de Romandie, but he did not complete the race^[9] since Garmin-Barracuda wanted to keep him rested in preparation for the Giro, where he would be the team's leader for the overall classification, while his team-mate Tyler Farrar's task would be to contest the sprint finishes.^[10]

His Giro that year got off to a good start, Garmin-Barracuda won the team time trial and put Hesjedal in fourth overall and within reach of the overall lead. On May 12, he became the first Canadian in history to lead the overall classification of the Giro d'Italia and wear the pink jersey. He is the first Canadian rider since Steve Bauer in the 1990 Tour de France to wear an overall classification jersey from a Grand Tour. The event unfolded on stage 7, where the last of the escapees was caught with only 700 meters to go. Hesjedal finished 5th in the uphill finish atop Rocca di Cambio, 5 seconds behind stage winner Paolo Tiralongo of Astana, securing the leader's jersey.^[11] Though he would eventually lose the jersey to Joaquim Rodríguez, he would again don the Maglia Rosa for the overall lead on stage 14 after attacking on the Cervinia and leaving his competitors unable to respond.^[12] However, Rodriguez managed to reclaim the overall lead the following day.

During the mountain stages of the last week many expected Hesjedal to drop back in the overall standings, however he remained in the fray hovering between 15 and 30 seconds back of the overall lead. As he was considered a strong time trialist and because of the fact that he attacked often on the final mountain stages, dropping contenders like Ivan Basso and Michele Scarponi, many were led to believe that the Canadian would win the Giro on the final day, including race leader Rodriguez who conceded he had not done enough.^[13]

When in fact the last day of the Giro was run on the streets of Milan for the time trial, Hesjedal completed the course in 34:15 which was indeed enough time to take the maglia rosa for the final time. This completed his journey of becoming the first Canadian to win a Grand Tour and only the second time ever that the maglia rosa changed hands on the last day of the Giro.^[14] The victory elicited an immediate response from his home country of Canada, with the nation's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper releasing a statement saying "We thank Mr. Hesjedal for this defining moment in Canadian sport. This remarkable win in one of bicycle racing's most grueling competitions is a testimony to Mr. Hesjedal’s training, endurance, skill and competitive spirit."^[15] British Columbia premier Christy Clark added that “For a British Columbian to have done this is amazing. I know this is going to go down as one of the great Canadian accomplishments ever in sport.”^[2]

He also received plaudits from former Canadian cyclist Bauer and former Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, the latter tweeting "gotta love it when the best man wins."^[16] Allan Peiper, the Garmin team's sporting director compared Hesjedal's 16 second victory to that of 2011 Tour de France winner Cadel Evans' victory. He noted the similarities in the fight to stay within striking distance on the final mountain stages and then the time-trial to victory that both riders had.^[17] Of his own final ride up the Passo dello Stelvio Hesjedal said that "I was a bit concerned. As we approached the last part of the Stelvio, none of my rivals were willing to work to conserve their positions, either … Those are all the tactics and situations. I basically had to save my own Giro in the last five [kilometres]. It was a huge effort."^[16]

Personal[link]

His great-grandparents were Norwegian immigrants from Beiarn in Nordland and Stamnes in Vaksdal.^[18]

Palmares[link]

Olympic Record[link]

Grand Tour General Classification results timeline[link]

Grand Tour	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Giro	WD	-	-	60	-	-	-	1
Tour	-	-	-	47	49	6	18
Vuelta	-	WD	-	-	WD	-	-

WD = withdrew

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ryder Hesjedal

• Canadian Cyclist
• Cycling BC
• Ryder Hesjedal Home Page
• Garmin-Barracuda Team profile

v t e Winners of the general classification in the Giro d'Italia 1909 Luigi Ganna 1910–11 Carlo Galetti 1912* Team Atala (Carlo Galetti, Giovanni Micheletto, Eberardo Pavesi) 1913 Carlo Oriani 1914 Alfonso Calzolari 1915–18 World War I 1919 Costante Girardengo 1920 Gaetano Belloni 1921–22 Giovanni Brunero 1923 Costante Girardengo 1924 Giuseppe Enrici 1925 Alfredo Binda 1926 Giovanni Brunero 1927–29 Alfredo Binda 1930 Luigi Marchisio 1931 Francesco Camusso 1932 Antonio Pesenti 1933 Alfredo Binda 1934 Learco Guerra 1935 Vasco Bergamaschi 1936–37 Gino Bartali 1938–39 Giovanni Valetti 1940 Fausto Coppi 1941–45 World War II 1946 Gino Bartali 1947 Fausto Coppi 1948 Fiorenzo Magni 1949 Fausto Coppi 1950 Hugo Koblet 1951 Fiorenzo Magni 1952–53 Fausto Coppi 1954 Carlo Clerici 1955 Fiorenzo Magni 1956 Charly Gaul 1957 Gastone Nencini 1958 Ercole Baldini 1959 Charly Gaul 1960 Jacques Anquetil 1961 Arnaldo Pambianco 1962–63 Franco Balmamion 1964 Jacques Anquetil 1965 Vittorio Adorni 1966 Gianni Motta 1967 Felice Gimondi 1968 Eddy Merckx 1969 Felice Gimondi 1970 Eddy Merckx 1971 Gösta Pettersson 1972–74 Eddy Merckx 1975 Fausto Bertoglio 1976 Felice Gimondi 1977 Michel Pollentier 1978 Johan de Muynck 1979 Giuseppe Saronni 1980 Bernard Hinault 1981 Giovanni Battaglin 1982 Bernard Hinault 1983 Giuseppe Saronni 1984 Francesco Moser 1985 Bernard Hinault 1986 Roberto Visentini 1987 Stephen Roche 1988 Andy Hampsten 1989 Laurent Fignon 1990 Gianni Bugno 1991 Franco Chioccioli 1992–93 Miguel Indurain 1994 Evgeni Berzin 1995 Tony Rominger 1996 Pavel Tonkov 1997 Ivan Gotti 1998 Marco Pantani 1999 Ivan Gotti 2000 Stefano Garzelli 2001 Gilberto Simoni 2002 Paolo Savoldelli 2003 Gilberto Simoni 2004 Damiano Cunego 2005 Paolo Savoldelli 2006 Ivan Basso 2007 Danilo Di Luca 2008 Alberto Contador 2009 Denis Menchov 2010 Ivan Basso 2011 Michele Scarponi 2012 Ryder Hesjedal *This Giro was contested solely by teams, with no individual classification