Eric Ryder Hesjedal is a Canadian retired professional racing cyclist who competed in both mountain biking and road racing between 1998 and 2016.
44 Facts About Ryder Hesjedal
2.
Ryder Hesjedal turned professional with US Postal Service in 2004 after several years with the Rabobank continental team.
3.
Ryder Hesjedal later admitted that this doping allegation was "the truth", and that he "chose the wrong path".
4.
Ryder Hesjedal has not served a ban as a result of his confession to USADA, and has publicly expressed a desire to be honest and transparent.
5.
Ryder Hesjedal began his career competing as a mountain bike cyclist, with initial success as a two-time world champion in the mountain bike relay event in both 2001 and 2002.
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Ryder Hesjedal won silver as an individual at the 2003 world mountain biking championships and competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics for Canada in the mountain bike category.
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At those games, Ryder Hesjedal was on his way to an Olympic medal and likely a gold medal before a sharp rock cut and flattened his tire, ending that Olympic dream.
8.
Ryder Hesjedal finished second of the mountainous tenth stage behind Simon Gerrans, registering the same time as the victor.
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Ryder Hesjedal did not miss his chance days later on stage 12 however, when he detached himself from the favourites' group on the final climb to the Alto de Velefique.
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Ryder Hesjedal joined the lone escapee David Garcia Dapena and tried to shake him off, but Garcia resisted.
11.
Ryder Hesjedal outsprinted his rival near the line to take the victory.
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Ryder Hesjedal was named male international cyclist of the year of 2009 from Cycling BC.
13.
Ryder Hesjedal finished fifth, 19 seconds behind the victor, Maxim Iglinsky of Astana, and said that he was happy with his performance.
14.
Ryder Hesjedal rode the Tour of California and finished fifth overall, grabbing a victory on the eighth stage in the process, as he out-sprinted his breakaway companions Chris Horner, George Hincapie and Carlos Barredo.
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Ryder Hesjedal was awarded the most combative rider on the day and thus wore red numbers for the fourth stage.
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Ryder Hesjedal went on to finish fifth in the overall classification of the race, the highest Canadian finish in the race in 22 years, when Bauer finished fourth in the 1988 Tour de France.
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Ryder Hesjedal had a quieter 2011 year, with a few near wins.
18.
Ryder Hesjedal placed in the top 7 for four of the six stages, but went from fifth overall to ninth after the final day individual time trial, where he came in a minute and 52 seconds behind Tony Martin.
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Ryder Hesjedal performed well in the Tour de France though he did not finish as well as his 6th placing of the previous year.
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Ryder Hesjedal set his teammate up by taking the first position and riding hard, allowing Hushovd to launch his sprint and take the win, with Hesjedal coming in third.
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Ryder Hesjedal is the first Canadian rider since Steve Bauer in the 1990 Tour de France to wear an overall classification jersey from a Grand Tour.
22.
Ryder Hesjedal finished 5th in the uphill finish atop Rocca di Cambio, 5 seconds behind stage winner Paolo Tiralongo of Astana, securing the leader's jersey.
23.
When in fact the last day of the Giro was run on the streets of Milan for the time trial, Ryder Hesjedal completed the course in 34:15 which was indeed enough time to take the pink jersey for the final time.
24.
Ryder Hesjedal's title was notable in that it was completed on an entirely Canadian-made-and-manufactured bicycle by Cervelo.
25.
Ryder Hesjedal noted the similarities in the fight to stay within striking distance on the final mountain stages and then the time-trial to victory that both riders had.
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Ryder Hesjedal was then involved in a massive crash during the 6th stage that put him 13 minutes behind and out of contention for the general classification.
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Ryder Hesjedal then looked to end his season on a high note at the Tour of Beijing, putting it all on the line on the hilly fifth stage, where he attacked relentlessly.
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Ryder Hesjedal missed his gamble however, was out-sprinted by Cummings for the victory and had to settle for second place for the stage and 18th in the overall classification.
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Ryder Hesjedal was later swept by a small chasing group containing teammate Martin.
30.
Ryder Hesjedal took some pulls at the front of the group and played a role in Martin's victory, taking the eighth place for himself.
31.
Ryder Hesjedal finished third on the stage in a select sprint, awarding himself an eight-second bonus for doing so.
32.
Ryder Hesjedal started the season by scoring a top 10 result in the overall classification of the Giro d'Italia, finishing in ninth position.
33.
On Stage 7 of the Vuelta a Espana, Ryder Hesjedal was in a breakaway of four that would make it to the line, but he crashed in a bend and a race motorcycle then accidentally rode on his bike.
34.
Ryder Hesjedal finished second on the stage after changing his machine.
35.
Ryder Hesjedal was however named as the leader for his team for the mountainous Giro del Trentino.
36.
The ordeal got off to a bad start as Ryder Hesjedal lost 2:46 on Stage 2 to the winner of the day, Richie Porte.
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Ryder Hesjedal went on to finish the race in fourteenth position.
38.
At the Giro d'Italia, Ryder Hesjedal lost some time in the first week because of his tendency to ride behind the peloton.
39.
On stage 20 featuring the unpaved Colle delle Finestre, Ryder Hesjedal gained some more time and passed Leopold Konig and Steven Kruijswijk on general classification after finishing second to Aru.
40.
Ryder Hesjedal competed at the Giro d'Italia, however he dropped out of the race on the fourteenth stage due to stomach problems.
41.
Ryder Hesjedal subsequently rode at the Criterium du Dauphine in support of Bauke Mollema, however he was not selected for the Tour de France, and subsequently withdrew himself from consideration for the Canadian team for the Olympics.
42.
In October 2013, following allegations in Michael Rasmussen's book "Yellow Fever", Ryder Hesjedal admitted to doping earlier in his career, describing it as his "part in the dark past of the sport".
43.
Ryder Hesjedal has yet to identify exactly when he doped and for how long.
44.
Ryder Hesjedal's great-grandparents were Norwegian immigrants from Beiarn in Nordland and the Hesjedal Farm in Stamnes in Vaksdal.