TORONTO — Canadian Ryder Hesjedal joins Andrew Talansky and Dan Martin as co-leaders of the Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling team for the 102nd Tour de France.
The 34-year-old from Victoria is coming off a fifth-place finish at the Giro d’Italia, a race he won in 2012.
It marks Hesjedal’s seventh Tour and first since 2013. His best overall result at the Tour de France was sixth in 2010.
"We are going into the Tour de France with three leaders, all who have very different riding styles, and those styles complement each other," Charly Wegelius, the team’s sporting director said in a statement Monday. "Andrew, Dan and Ryder have shown they work well together, and that will translate to the roads of the Tour."
Talansky is a U.S. national time-trial champion who finished 10th overall in the 2013 Tour de France. England’s Martin won a stage in the 2103 race.
The three will be supported by a team that includes Tour veterans Jack Bauer, Kristijan Koren, Sebastian Langeveld and Ramunas Navardauskas. Riders Dylan Van Baarle and Nathan Hass are taking part in their first Tour de France.
Navardauskas won a stage in the 2104 race.
"We have a very talented group of riders and by bringing three top guys: Andrew, Dan and Ryder, we’re going to make things very interesting," said Jonathan Vaughters, CEO of Slipstream Sports and Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling.
"These three, and the team as whole, will work seamlessly and selflessly together to shake things up and create opportunities. You’ll see a lot of creativity from us at this Tour."
The 21-stage, 3,360-kilometre race starts Saturday and runs through July 26.