Ryder Hesjedal

Ryder Hesjedal
	Ryder Hesjedal (2015)
To person
Date of birth	December 9, 1980
nation	Canada
discipline	Street
End of career	2016
Most important successes
	Overall ranking Giro d'Italia 2012
	Last updated: November 2, 2016

Ryder Hesjedal at the Giro d'Italia 2012 award ceremony

Ryder Hesjedal at the 2011 Tour de France

Ryder Hesjedal (born December 9, 1980 in Victoria , British Columbia ) is a retired Canadian cyclist . With his overall victory in the Giro d'Italia 2012 , he is the first Canadian to win a Grand Tour .

Athletic career

Ryder Hesjedal began his cycling career as a successful mountain biker . He was vice junior world champion in 1998 , U23 vice world champion in 2001 and third in 2002 as well as vice world champion in the men in 2003 .

In 2002 and 2003 Hesjedal was under contract in the junior team of the road cycling team Rabobank . In 2004 he moved to the US Postal team of Lance Armstrong and 2006 the Swiss Phonak Cycling Team . In 2006 he was fourth in the overall ranking of the Tour of Catalonia 2006 . As a member of the US team Garmin-Slipstream , he won the twelfth stage of the Vuelta a España in 2009 and thus achieved his first victory in an international road race.

In 2010, Hesjedal had the most successful year of his career to date: in the spring he won a stage of the Tour of California and came second in the Amstel Gold Race when he was only beaten by the Belgian Philippe Gilbert . At the Tour de France 2010 , after the fall of the regular captain Christian Vande Velde , he took over his role and surprisingly achieved seventh place in the overall standings. He finished fourth and third in the newly introduced UCI ProTour races in his Canadian homeland, the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec and the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal .

In 2012, Hesjedal won the overall Giro d'Italia . After losing the Maglia Rosa twice to Joaquim Rodríguez , he was able to recapture it in the final time trial in Milan , making him the first Canadian to win a Grand Tour .

After Michael Rasmussen, who had already been punished for doping offenses , stated in a book that he had instructed Hesjedal in the use of EPO in 2003, Hesjedal publicly admitted in late October 2013 that he had used EPO as doping in 2003. The Canadian anti-doping agency CCES announced that Hesjedal had already admitted to the CCES and the US anti-doping agency USADA in spring 2013, i.e. before Rasmussen's accusation , and had cooperated with these institutions. However, the CCES expressed its disappointment that Hesjedal made the confession ten years after the offense. Hesjedal did not have to fear a ban because the doping use granted in 2003 was outside the eight-year limitation period of the WADA code.

However, Hesjedal was only able to build on his success on the Tour of Italy to a limited extent. In 2014 and 2015 he was among the top ten of the Giro d'Italia and in 2014 won another stage of the Vuelta a España .

Ryder Hesjedal ended his active cycling career at the end of the 2016 season.