Ryder Hesjedal wins the most prestigious Canadian award the Giro win
Ryder Hesjedal is celebrating a splendid season and reached the maximum fame by winning the first Grand Tour race of the season, the Giro d’Italia 2012.
He became the first ever Canadian cyclist to claim an overall victory at the three-week race and has been honoured with the best Canadian male of the year award.
The cyclist received the maximum number of votes from different sports writers across the country and lifted the 2012 version of the Lionel Conacher Award, a trophy that started back in 1932.
He was delighted after receiving the honour and thanked all his fans and journalists that voted in his favour, "I still think a lot of people don't really understand. You see stuff [like] 'He won it on the last day.' Like things just get decided that simply,”
Hesjedal told the Canadian Press.
"You're winning it every moment, over every kilometer for three weeks. It's just incredible. There's not really anything like it. Really, to be a Grand Tour winner, it's a very small club and it's a very elite club and I'm very grateful for that".
The 32-year-old has been around since a long and represented several cycling teams throughout his career, marking his debut with Team SAAB/Gary Fisher for 1999-2000 seasons.
He stayed with Team Subaru/Gary Fisher, (2001-03), Team Us Postal (2004), Team Discovery Channel (2005), Team Phonak (2006), Team Health Net-Maxxis (2007) and finally switched to Team Slipstream-Chipotle in 2008.
The Canadian holds as many as ten Grand Tour participations under his belt which includes two Vuelta a Espana, five Tour de France and three Giro d’Italia appearances on his resume.
His sixth place finish at the Tour de France 2010 is still the best Tour performance by the Giro d’Italia 2012 winner.
Hesjedal is optimistic for the coming edition of the Giro d’Italia and while commenting on addition of Alberto Contador and Bradley Wiggins he stated, “The more the merrier”.
“You want to be able to beat everyone possible. I’m the defending champion and I’ll go there with the number one bib”, he said earlier.
It will be interesting to see if the reigning Giro champion manages to find the right momentum to rule the Italian Grand Tour throne for the second consecutive year.
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