Ryder Hesjedal takes the Giro d'Italia!

Rock on Ryder!  Not often we Canadians can revel in a cycling victory like this - Next it's France!  : )

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Permalink Reply by Dahondude on May 29, 2012 at 10:41

Too bad Hesjedal comes from the Evans/Armstrong school of "how to give a completely monotonal TV interview". The guy has just won one of the biggest bike races but you'd have thought that someone just told him he trod in a dog turd.

Permalink Reply by snappy_don on May 29, 2012 at 12:22

Tough for Rodriguez.. He turned himself inside out on the TT.. Interesting how a good Time Trial is far more than simple 'preparedness to suffer'. He simply wasn't fast enough. Huge kudos to Ryder for gutsing it out in the mountains where he was physically less suited than most of his rivals.

I feel for Cav too. He dragged himself over the last week of mountains to claim the red jersey- only to lose it by a single point to a mountain climber.. I saw his finish line interview. I've never seen him look so utterly spent. He could hardly talk.

Permalink Reply by easytiger on May 29, 2012 at 13:56

I think you will find Hesjedal cracked in the last half of the TT - if the TT was it's original 2km longer (damn those roadworks) then I think we would have had a different result.

Hesjedal - consistent tick, strong tick, charismatic donk-dong. Chapeau to him, but give me Purito any day!

Permalink Reply by Derek Hasel on May 29, 2012 at 17:15

Purito and Spanish.  That's an oxymoron !   More like Puerto !

Permalink Reply by easytiger on May 30, 2012 at 13:40

You might need to break it down for me why Rodriguez' nickname for a small cigar and "Spanish" is an oxymoron? Also an accusation about linking his name to Operation Puerto is wildly unfounded. That smacks of "all mouth, no trousers"!

... and Hesjedal's DS is Jonathon Vaughters (a self-confessed juicer) and we all know who he rode for at the time!

@Konadog - sorry for going off-topic, Hesjedal deserved his win, but Derek's gutter-sniping has no place in this discussion.

Permalink Reply by Derek Hasel on May 30, 2012 at 14:51

Read the first 'post', Fool !

Permalink Reply by Patrick O'Kane on May 29, 2012 at 19:50

I know to win a Grand Tour you have to be consistent over all terrains and be a proficient TTer but I was disappointed that the race finished with a TT. If there has to be time trials, either individual or team then stick them in the middle of the race and let the overall outcome be decided in a battle of tactics and team work in a normal road stage.

Permalink Reply by snappy_don on May 29, 2012 at 21:30

Mate, I know what you mean- and I wrote pretty much the same sentence up above.. but then I argued myself down by reminding myself that Bertie (no steak jokes please- with or without drugs he's an awesome climber) didn't have any trouble defending his lead last year.. because he'd been so dominant in the mountains. Purito, on the other hand, struggled to break away when he had the opportunities.

If a Grand Tour is to reward the strongest rider in the race, there's nowhere to hide in a TT. No sitting in, no sucking a team mates wheel. Yes GT's are about teamwork, but we all want a worthy individual winner. The purists would say it's a pity Ryder didn't actually win a stage (TTT not withstanding)  to prove he was strongest on any given day.

And it's hard to argue with the program when a 21 day race is decided by 16 seconds.

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