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Smooth roads ahead: A conversation with Ryder Hesjedal
It seems like Ryder Hesjedal has been racing his bike forever. Whether racking up wins as one of North America’s most consistent performers on the dirt or bumping shoulders with the European peloton on the road, it’s sometimes hard to remember that the guy is only 25 years old.
Since walking away from mountain biking after the 2004 World Championships, Hesjedal has quietly been making strides on the road. Despite crashing out of the 2005 Giro d’Italia, Hesjedal made important gains in form and confidence in what was his first full season racing on the road.
A switch to Phonak in the winter has helped open more opportunities for Hesjedal and he’s getting closer to a breakout performance that will put him on par with fellow fat-tire refugees like Cadel Evans and Michael Rasmussen who’ve been able to shine on the road.
At last week’s Volta a Catalunya, Hesjedal finished a career-best fourth-place overall in the week-long ProTour race. VeloNews.com caught up with Hesjedal following a training ride Monday afternoon in Girona, Spain, to reflect on road bikes, mountain bikes and his future …
VeloNews.com: Congratulations on fourth place at Catalunya, that must be rewarding to get such a solid result at a ProTour event?
Ryder Hesjedal: For sure, to finish fourth in a ProTour, week-long stage race in the caliber of Catalunya, by far it’s my best result on the road. I’m just trying to process it and see where I go from here. It’s not easy for a rider to come up with a result like that, so I want to try to enjoy it as much as possible and continue to improve. It doesn’t matter if the results are better on paper, what’s important is to keep getting better and improving.
VN.com: You were obviously strong on the decisive climbing stage to Andorra to help Santiago Botero, it seems you really went on the attack, tell us your perspective on the stage.
RH: We had Santi as the main guy for GC and we all knew it would be the deciding day. I wanted to have a good day, stay focused and put Santi in a good position. By having him in a good position, I was obviously in a good position too. I had good enough legs to keep it going to the end and ended up helping myself as well. Moreau was up the road in a break all day and there were still about 50 guys in the front when we got to the bottom of the long final climb. Pereiro was setting a pretty good tempo on the first climb into Andorra and I was sitting on his wheel, and that gave me some confidence. I was able to stay pretty comfortable. When we got to the bottom of Arcalis, I knew I needed to do more attacking to force the other guys to look to me and give Santi a better approach on the climb. It was not a good position to be in for Santi because everyone was looking at him. I answered an attack by Luis Leon right at the foot of the climb and there were four of us off the front in the first three kilometers. Santi was able to bridge up from the main group. Then he and I did what we could together to get up to the lead group.
VN.com: Castaño went early and never came back?
RH: He went right at the base of the climb and everyone just looked at each other. Eighty percent of the favorites are still there and one guy just rode away. He ended up riding up the whole way through to the win. I ended up riding a little more aggressive and it ended well for the team. Moreau took second and Santi rolled in ahead of me.
VN.com: That must have been satisfying to be riding at the front in such important company on such a legendary climb?
RH: I was pretty stoked about that. Karpets, Brajkovic, Linus, Cañada, there were seven-eight guys right in the top 10 and I was pretty happy to be one of the animators of the climb. I rode the last 130km of that stage the Friday before the race in training, so I had some good excitement going into the race. I had a good spring and a good training period after Roubaix, so I was feeling good.
VN.com: A good result is always good for the confidence, how important is this for you?
RH: The results are always the main thing your work toward. Personally, to be able to help a teammate, who in all rights should have been the winner (Botero lost by two seconds - editor), it’s a pretty big event for the team. To finish fourth is just icing on the cake. It keeps me motivated going into July and the rest of the season. I’m looking forward to helping the team in the Dauphine in the last tune-up before the Tour. I’m happy to get an overall result like that. There were some hard days and everyone was close in the GC. It’s one thing to go big one day, but to keep it going for another few days and seal in a week-long race of ProTour caliber, that’s nice.
VN.com: What’s next for you after the Dauphine?
RH: Right now, I am doing the Dauphine, the then TTT in Holland, then I got back to Canada for the national championships in the end of June and stay there until I come back to Europe for the Tour of Germany and the Vuelta.
VN.com: Has there been any discussion of you making the Tour team?
RH: It hasn’t been discussed. Experience-wise and race-wise, I’m still pretty young and it’s too early for something like that. When you’re going to the Tour with a contender like Floyd, you have to be strategic and have guys that are capable of handling that. It’s something I am aspiring toward and I feel like I am more on track after Catalunya.
VN.com: How do you see yourself developing as a rider in the coming years?
RH: I think my window to improve is still pretty big. I’m 25 now, I’m not a veteran, but I’ve been around a few years at a high level of racing. I’m getting more in tune with my body. That’s one of the biggest things of racing at this level. The transition is completed and I am trying to make it to the next level. Sometimes it seems far away, but after races like Catalunya, it seems as close as ever. I just have to keep doing what I am doing.
VN.com: You’ve raced the classics a few times, do you see yourself more as a classics rider or as a stage-racer?
RH: After this week, it’s helped confirm that I need a day after day format. Referring more to the northern classics, those are such unique races and I’ve been there three springs already. I got a feel for it, but to be a classics specialist, you have to be real specific. I just don’t see myself becoming that kind of rider. I was comfortable in those races and it’s not as if I cannot do them, but I see myself being a general, all-round stage racer. But racing those events for three years really helped my development. Just to be part of them, it brings you up to another level. The racing was good and hard.
VN.com: So you’ve made the full transition from mountain biking to road racing, how did you first start with the road? RH: That really wasn’t the plan. It just happened from circumstances. I started racing on the road to improve my fitness, there’s nothing new about that. Mountain biking was still big and I was still getting good results. I did a season of stagiere with Rabobank in 2002 and that opened the door for me to join the T3 team in 2003. I raced a lot in Europe in the beginning of the spring and then I was the NORBA race at Big Bear, then won the next one and won the overall and I almost won world’s. That was as good as year as any.
VN.com: Did you finally make the break after the 2004 Olympics?
RH: I had the opportunity to ride with Discovery that year and I continued to see improvement. I had another good spring and I was really confident going into the Olympics. I knew my condition was really good going into Athens, but I flatted 10 minutes into the race and that was game over. I was looking to have a big day and it just didn’t happen. I was hoping to keep it together for the world championships in Les Gets to get the rainbow jersey, but the day before leaving for the race, I crashed and had a pretty bad contusion right above me knee. I lasted about a lap. Those were the last two mountain bike races I’ve done.
VN.com: Do you feel like there’s any unfinished business with mountain biking?
RH: I’m pretty much finished with it. I never looked back and especially after this week, I’m glad about the decision I made. When I look at the scene I can see much hasn’t changed. I raced against all those same guys for six years and they’re still there. I had spent half the year with Discovery and it was clear that there wasn’t going to be too much there (in mountain biking). I had shown some ability on the road and I had the chance to continue with Discovery full time.
VN.com: Didn’t you win the amateur version of Catalunya?
RH: I did stagiere in the fall of 2002 with Rabobank and I won the race. I really didn’t even know what was going on. I had just won the World Cup mountain bike final in Les Gets and went straight to Holland, then straight on a plane to Spain. I just raced the best I could and I ended up getting into a good break. I got the jersey the next day and I held it through the time trial and I ended up winning the whole thing. That was pretty overwhelming that it all happened so fast. I had won a one-day amateur race that spring with the national team.
VN.com: You had a busy season in 2005 with Discovery, how did that go for you?
RH: I ended up racing a lot and I had a pretty hard spring. I had two weeks at Solvang and then straight to Qatar. I didn’t have so much in February, just some training, but then a lot of bad luck hit the team with crashes, sicknesses and injury plaguing the team, so I ended up getting the call for a lot of racing. I did all the northern classics except Flanders and all the Ardennes classics. Then I went straight into Romandie and the Giro. Either you’re going to crash or get sick, bodwise you just can’t hold up.
VN.com: You crashed out of the Giro, how was that experience for you?
RH: The Giro was the finishing point of that period of the season. I crashed in the fifth day, but I still ended up racing for eight days after the crash. In terms of learning and experience, it was well worth it.
VN.com: And after that, you came back with good results in the fall?
RH: I had some good time to recover and regroup to take a crack at the second half of the season. I was 18th overall at the Tour of Germany. That was a proper stage race and a lot of the big Tour riders were still going strong and there’s a long TT and some hard climbs, so I was pretty happy with that. I just kept it going, helping George win at Plouay and helping Jason get into that winning move at San Francisco. In Madrid I was 22nd in the TT and I lost the group on the final lap in the road race. It was just me riding around by myself, but it was a good experience to finish the season with good morale.
VN.com: That’s a pretty ambitious program for your first year racing full-time on the road.
RH: The crash at the Giro was the lethal blow, but you have to go to those races when you get the opportunity. I was pretty happy to recover from my crash and come back in good condition. I was pretty motivated through my first full year on the road and I took that momentum into this season.
VN.com: How did the switch from Discovery to Phonak come about?
RH: My two-year deal at Discovery was finished and I just wanted to see if I could find a better opportunity for myself. I came together really quickly. I had just one meeting with John (Lelangue, team manager) and Floyd seemed pretty happy about it. The team was bringing on some young riders and it seemed like a good opportunity to start with some new energy.
VN.com: You seem pretty happy at Phonak?
RH: It’s exactly where I want to be. I have a great stage-racing program and this year I just want to keep making progress. I’m looking to keep improving. This is just really my second full season on the road, so Phonak is giving me some chances to race in races that suit me. It’s so competitive at this level, it just takes time to find your place.
VN.com: How has your season been going?
RH: Pretty good. I was sixth at the Coppi e Bartali. I made the selection in the hardest day there, with Cunego and the others in the GC. It was raining all day and a hard stage. It was nice to get in the mix. The classics went OK. Those races are pretty gnarly, at least I didn’t crash. I had a pretty race at Flanders and Wevelgem, but those races aren’t really ideal for a rider like me. It’s so specialized and it takes so long to get to the high level. Look at Thor Hushovd, it took him 10 years to win at Wevelgem.
VN.com: You’re looking to get back to a grand tour with the Vuelta?
RH: Yes, I’m hoping to race the Vuelta later this year. The Giro was a good experience and I was getting comfortable racing in a grand tour, but it’s hard to race when you’re not at your best. But experience-wise, the Giro is a great race to try your first grand tour. Hopefully I’ll have a good opportunity at the Vuelta.
