Ryder Hesjedal

Ryder Hesjedal

Hesjedal at the 2016 Tour of Alberta
Personal information
Full name	Eric Ryder Hesjedal
Born	(1980-12-09) December 9, 1980 (age 43) Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 1+1⁄2 in)[1]
Weight	73 kg (161 lb; 11 st 7 lb)[1]
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	All-rounder
Amateur teams
1999–2004	Gary Fisher (MTB)
2002–2003	Rabobank GS3
Professional teams
2004–2005	U.S. Postal Service
2006	Phonak
2007	Health Net–Maxxis
2008–2015	Slipstream–Chipotle[2]
2016	Trek–Segafredo
Major wins
Grand Tours Tour de France 1 TTT stage (2011) Giro d'Italia General classification (2012) 2 TTT stages (2008, 2012) Vuelta a España 2 individual stages (2009, 2014) One-day races and Classics National Time Trial Championships (2007)
Medal record Representing  Canada Men's mountain bike racing World Championships 2003 Lugano Cross country

Eric Ryder Hesjedal^[3] (/ˈraɪdər ˈhɛʃədɑːl/;^[4] born December 9, 1980) is a Canadian retired professional racing cyclist who competed in mountain biking and road racing between 1998 and 2016. Hesjedal won a silver medal at the 1998 Junior, 2001 Under-23, and Elite world championship in mountain biking. He turned professional with U.S. Postal Service in 2004 after several years with the Rabobank continental team. Having previously finished in fifth place at the 2010 Tour de France, Hesjedal won his first and only Grand Tour at the 2012 Giro d'Italia, the first Grand Tour win by a Canadian. Other major wins include two stages at the Vuelta a España, the first such stage wins by a Canadian.

Danish cyclist Michael Rasmussen asserted in his autobiography that he taught Hesjedal how to take erythropoietin (EPO). Hesjedal later admitted that this doping allegation was "the truth" and that he "chose the wrong path".^[5] 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. VeloNews reported in 2014 that "The 33-year-old Canadian, however, stopped short of explaining what drugs he took, and when".^[5]