BY PERRY LEFKO
sportsnet.ca
As Canada's current pre-eminent cyclist, Ryder Hesjedal continues to tour the world - literally.
Hesjedal competed in the recent Tour de France for the fourth time in his career, and while he personally didn't do as well as he'd liked, finishing 19th overall following last year's breakthrough seventh-place finish, he experienced the feeling of standing atop the victory podium because his team, Garmin-Cervelo, finished first overall.
In an exclusive interview with sportsnet.ca, Hesjedal touched upon several subjects, including team success versus individual glory, overcoming crashes, the state of Canadian cycling and riding in his home country.
On Sportsnet: The Vuelta a España can be seen on Sportsnet ONE starting Saturday at 11 a.m. ET. | Check TV schedule
SN: What's the difference between the individual glory you experienced last year in the Tour de France and the team glory this year?
RH: It's totally different the success the team had, not just collectively but also the individuals. It was by far the best Tour that (Garmin-Cervelo) has ever had. To be a part of that and to have been part of that team since the beginning was great. It was really rewarding and fulfilling to be there. You can never know how the (entire) race is going to turn out. I had a great race last year, things just fell into place and it worked out great. It doesn't always happen, especially in the Tour de France. Individual rankings are just one part - it's a big part, obviously, for winning the race and wearing the yellow jersey - but there's so many different things needed to be successful in the race. I had to focus on a lot of different things other than just worrying about my individual results.
SN: On the first stage of the Tour this year you were involved in a massive crash some 10 kilometres from the wire. What went through your head, knowing you had just had a ton of time taken right off the top?
RH: I'll always remember it. Already on that first day, that GC goal and that dream to go back there and try to finish (like last year) was already compromised.
SN: But in the next stage your team placed first overall. What was that like?
RH: Winning on the second day and standing on the podium and putting Thor Hushovd in the yellow jersey…was the complete opposite that I could possibly experience in two days. It was just highs and lows the whole time after that. Definitely the most complex Tour in that sense, so many different ups and downs and everything in between.
SN: When you fall so far back early, does your role change?
RH: That's always part of professional cycling. Everyone always has different roles. Those roles have to be figured out and it's always changing. There was a plan going into the race (with the team) with myself finishing seventh last year and Christian Van de Velde finishing fourth and eighth in 2009. The other objectives were always there - to support the team time trial, the sprint stages, the medium tougher finishes. I always knew that was part of the race. I was always going to be fulfilling all sorts of roles, focusing on the general classification (that tracks overall times), but also protecting teammates and doing all the things that need to be done to win all sorts of different stages, which is what our team set out to do from the beginning. We didn't go to the Tour de France for Ryder to try and get a (better) result there than seventh place. I'm out there to win stages, to have someone in the GC and to put someone in the yellow jersey (for finishing first overall) and take the team (championship) overall, and we did that.
SN: What's it like standing on the victory podium at the end as the top team?
RH: For the team to stand there at the end in Paris on the Champs, sure it might have been a bit sweeter if you're in the final top three in the race, but to stand there as a team with everyone that you've gone through it all with is pretty special. You can't do it without the collective group. It is a team sport in that sense. Sure, everyone has a position individually ranked everyday, but you can't win a sprint stage without riders that can ride the front all day, keep it that way, have riders that can lead you out and you deliver the last few 100 metres. You can't win the Tour de France at the end without having teammates that can control the race, set you up, do all the riding that needs to be done. Many, many professionals that never finish high up in the rankings are top-level riders that get paid very good salaries and do their job day in, day out, and because of it the team is successful. They get the results they need and that's how it all works. I have enjoyed individual success being supported by teammates and I enjoy supporting teammates that have success. That's what being a professional cyclist is.
SN: You've been in it four times now and have enjoyed individual success and now team success. So overall, what have the experiences been like?
RH: They're all different. As someone who finished seventh overall the year before and had the best ride of my life, what I was able to do and the way that I did it, simply getting back to the Tour was already an accomplishment.
SN: You had a terrible spill in the seventh stage during which you were carrying water bottles for your teammates ahead, what happened?
RH: I actually crashed instead of just being caught behind the crash in the first stage. It was a pretty high-speed crash off the road and luckily the ditch was just grass embankment and not rocks or concrete. I got pushed off the road and also hit from behind when everyone was getting involved in the crash. It was quite a drop down to the bottom of the ditch. Wrong place, wrong time, there's nothing you can do. I got forced off the road. I went flying over the handlebars, with my neck underneath. The water bottles created more impact into my back. It was like having a sack of rocks on your back as well. It created heavy bruising and deep tissue on the spine and shoulder. It's definitely not something that helps the riding position when all the ribs are in a bruised state. The next day wasn't enjoyable at all. Luckily it wasn't anything more. I continued on, but sometimes it's almost worse when it's an injury where you can keep riding but it's still affecting you and every day it's deteriorating even more because the body should be resting and you're still riding. It took quite awhile to come out of the lowest point, as opposed to simply breaking a collarbone and going home.
SN: What did it teach you about having to persevere through it?
RH: I think I've definitely crashed harder, but it was only Day 7 of the Tour de France and there was still two more weeks and lots of riding to do and lot of objectives to fight for. I think I learned more from this Tour through the low points - those are what make you stronger. The good moments are the easy moments, I don't think you learn as much from them. I think I came out of this race stronger; certainly my last week (with two top-10 finishes) my driving was where I felt it should be the whole time. To make it through that and ride the way I did the last week, I was very happy with that. To do it in the final week of the race - that's the hardest part, that's what makes the race.
SN: So what's it like being the lone representative from Canada in the biggest event in cycling?
RH: It is what it is. I was proud to be there in 2008 for my first time and the first time a Canadian had been in it in over a decade. I think that was well overdue and I'm just proud that I've been able to be there four years in a row. It just so happens I'm the only one, but I try not to think about it.
SN: What is the state of Canadian cycling like now?
RH: I think it's probably the best place it's ever been. Steve Bauer's program (SpiderTech) - I raced with them a couple times in Europe and the program looks great. The riders that are coming up on other teams as well in North America and the programs the national teams are doing - the mountain biking, the track cycling - are producing excellent results. I'm happy to be a part of that and be where I am and what I'm doing in the Tour de France, but I think there will be more of them soon.
SN: You've ridden before in the de la Vuelta a Espana (Tour de Spain) coming up this month, but you're skipping it this year to ride in the Grand Prix Cycliste races in Quebec from Sept. 9-11. Why?
RH: You can't do every race. Last year was the first year the Canadian Tour races were on the calendar. Obviously it's important to me and the team. It went well last year and I want to go there again and perform well.
The de la Vuelta a Espana on Sportsnet
As someone with previous experience riding in the de la Vuelta a Espana (the Tour de Spain), sportsnet.ca asked Canadian Ryder Hesjedal to size up this year's race, which will be broadcast by Sportsnet.
The La Vuelta, which runs from Aug. 20-Sept. 11, is considered the third of the major international cycling Tour races along with the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy). Hesjedal, who finished first in the 12th stage of the 2009 race, describes this particular event of importance compared to the ones in France and Italy because of what it means to the Spaniards and as a tuneup for the world championships, which will take place Sept. 19-25 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Hesjedal says the four Spanish teams scheduled to enter will be tough. He also singled out Spanish riders such as Joaquim Rodriguez and Carlos Sastre, who might be particularly tough after passing up on last month's Tour de France to focus on this event.
"That race is their big grand Tour of the season," he noted.
This year's La Vuelta is returning to the Basque region for the first time in 33 years.
