Ryder Hesjedal ready to take on Alberto Contador and Bradley Wiggins at Giro d’Italia 2013
After having a terrific past 2012 season, Ryder Hesjedal of Team Garmin-Sharp is positive to continue his superb form in the season ahead.
He became the first ever Canadian cyclist, in the history of the sport, to bag an overall victory at any of the three Grand Tour races of the season after an all-round effort at the Giro d’Italia 2012.
Absence of Alberto Contador and Bradley Wiggins from the 2012 edition of the race made Hesjedal’s job lot easier and the current Vuelta a Espana and the Tour de France winners will definitely make things a little complicated for the Canadian to defend his
overall title.
However, Hesjedal does not seems too worried about the presence of the two as he believes, “The more the merrier,” when asked about the 2013 Grand Tour.
“You want to be able to beat everyone possible. I’m the defending champion and I’ll go there with the number one bib and do the best I can, to do that again. I know that I’ve got the 2012 Giro in my pocket”.
“I have that luxury and confidence that I was able to get through a Giro like that this year and win. It does a lot, when you’re training and wrapping your head around the next challenge”.
While commenting on the Giro d’Italia 2013 route which includes seven mountain finishes with no opening prologues he cited, “I’m excited, it looks good”.
The 31-year-old believes that the next year’s track is pretty balanced and being the defending champion, he will have a psychological advantage over his competitors at the coming race.
He believes that a good start can really help him in achieving his goals, “That is something I need, I need a very taxing race throughout,” he noted.
Ryder is immensely experienced and has completed as many eight Grand Tours, out of his ten appearances including three Giro d’Italia, five Tour de France and two Vuelta a Espana participations throughout his extensive career.
However, he is up against none other than one of the most experienced stage race cyclist, Alberto Contador and the newly crowned Tour de France winner, Bradley Wiggins which changes the whole context and it will be interesting to see how Hesjedal tackles
the duo in order to defend his overall victory.
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