Hesjedal celebrates hard-fought Giro d'Italia win

Ryder Hesjedal and trophy, Giro d'Italia 2012, stage 21

published 27 May 2012

Ryder Hesjedal became the first Canadian Grand Tour winner today in the Giro d'Italia. He surpassed Joaquin Rodriguez in the final time trial in Milan to win by 16 seconds.

It was a race of seconds from day one in Herning, Denmark. Team Garmin-Barracuda's Hesjedal put 14 seconds into Rodriguez of team Katusha. Rodriguez held tight, placed second, but still lost five seconds in the Verona team time trial. The race then headed uphill.

"We came with the objectives to be good in the first week - the prologue [stage 1 time trial], the first flat stages, the team time trial - we got that," Garmin's sports director, Allan Peiper said yesterday. "The guys just rode steadily. Christian [Vande Velde] said this team has never ridden like this before... and never taken control of the race. They have always been in the race, but never were the big boys. With the team we had, we used our resources to the maximum. It's been wonderful to be part of that."

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Hesjedal celebrates hard-fought Giro d'Italia win

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