[rousseau]

I know few people around here care, and I'm not a nativist or anything, but still, this is big: Ryder Hesjedal has been the leader in the general classification of this year's Giro d'Italia for stages 7 and 8.

He's the first Canadian ever to wear the maglia rosa (the pink overall leader's joursey, the equivalent of the maillot jaune, or yellow jersey, in the Tour de France).

The Giro d'Italia is a multi-stage bike race like the Tour de France. It's second in prestige to the Tour. Many cycling enthusiasts will tell you the Giro is actually more exciting than the Tour because the climbs are tougher, the finishes are often twistier and narrower (i.e. more dangerous) and the weather in May up in the mountains can be crazy.

How's this work? Hesjedal's overall time after 8 stages is 9 seconds quicker than the guy in second place. That's over 32 hours of riding so far. They'll go on to do 21 stages in 23 days. Ever run a marathon? Now do 21 marathons in 23 days. There is no other physical test on earth like it.

If I've piqued your curiousity, have a look at the first few minutes of The Greatest Show on Earth from 1974 to get a sense of the epic history of this race. And if you can stand the cheesy music, look out for the spectacular scenery at the 4:30 mark. The film actually chronicles Eddy Merckx's last victory in the Giro (Eddy Merckx is the greatest cyclist ever, and is a living legend--naturally, no one on this side of the pond has heard of him).

V8oh9gy7uvs


By the way, Lance Armstrong won 7 Tours de France in a row. Eddy Merckx won 5 in a row. Armstrong, though, didn't race the Giro or very many other races. He more or less concentrated solely on the Tour. By analogy, imagine a tennis player only playing Wimbledon, but never going to Australia or France. He or she wouldn't rank as highly as someone who won all of the Grand Slams. So, no, Armstrong is not even close to being the greatest cyclist ever. He's probably somewhere in the lower places of the top ten.

[The Gibbroni]

Hesjedal finished 4th and 3rd in the Québec and Montréal Grand Prix in 2010. He had a rougher go in 2011: 27th and 11th.

Here's the last lap in Montréal in 2010:
1DfMgEw-aRI

A nice summary of the race:
http://fieraraceteam.com/2010/09/13/gessink-edges-hesjedal-in-le-grand-prix-cycliste-de-montreal/

Promo video for Grand Prix Cycliste Montréal/Quebec
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I'm sure that Hesjedal will be back this year. Show your support and come on down!

[rousseau]

He won. He fucking won.

This is the greatest day in Canadian cycling history.

[kool maudit]

i used to race against him in the '90s. he kicked my ass every time.


this is a huge day for canadian cycling.

[kool maudit]

Eddy Merckx is the greatest cyclist ever.




agreed. "the cannibal."

armstrong is an oxygen tent prima donna in comparison. i like seeing tour winners grit their teeth through paris-roubaix in the rain. cycling is above all a suffering art.

[Nicko999]

Congrats Hesjedal!!! You did it.:tup:

[rousseau]

i used to race against him in the '90s. he kicked my ass every time.
What? Seriously? And you used to have an old steel Colnago, too?

Totally awesome, dood.

[kool maudit]

yeah, i was a pretty serious bike racer. mountain, then road. as it usually goes. i was no match for the ryder hesjedals or even the seamus mcgraths of the world, but i was there. struggling.

when i was 19 i started a sort of bildungsroman about a young canadian cyclist who idolized merckx, and really took the "cannibal" nickname to heart. it was called "windigo." unfortunately, it was self-indulgent and terrible. but you know how these things go...

[rousseau]

It sounds better than the unreadable novel I did: Canadian guy goes to Taiwan to teach English, and shit happens. Actually, that describes the novel in more ways than one. The only person who actually read it was a busker from Oxford who made money juggling in the night markets up and down the island dressed as a clown. He later got melanoma and died. No, I am not pretending to be John Irving.

I was a kid during the 10-speed boom of the 1970s (crikey, there's a Wikipedia page devoted to it: Bike Boom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bike_boom)). Nobody over here knew about bike racers, of course. We just knew that 10-speeds were everywhere, so you had to have one. But I also remember that by the early 1980s bikes were passé.

I think you can safely say that we've entered a new bike boom, except that this time city planners are following suit with improvements to infrastructure. Not to mention the link to health and environmental consciousness. So maybe Ryder Hesjedal will become a proper Canadian celebrity, and become famously anonymous like, you know, those guys on Little House on the Beachcomber, or whatever that show was. I mean, I saw him, that guy, walking along Dundas Street once, near the AGO. You know who I mean.

[rousseau]

Nascent Canadian cycling culture:

o32WBP8-IDE#!

They watched the last stage at Cafe Domestique, a cycling-themed cafe in Dundas: http://www.cafedomestique.com/. Looks like a nifty place.

By the way, to any interested road cyclists: don't ever pass up a chance to ride in Dundas Valley. The twisting, winding roads are magnificent. If you're unsure of the best route, just go to Cafe Domestique and ask them. I'm sure they'll tell you where to go.

[pEte fiSt iN Ur fAce]

So maybe Ryder Hesjedal will become a proper Canadian celebrity, and become famously anonymous like, you know, those guys on Little House on the Beachcomber, or whatever that show was. I mean, I saw him, that guy, walking along Dundas Street once, near the AGO. You know who I mean.

You saw Bruno Gerussi??? Decent. I once met Donnelly Rhodes of Danger Bay and Da Vinci's Inquest fame.

To be perfectly honest, I had never heard of Ryder Hesjedal [and have no idea how it's even pronounced] until opening this page. I do know who Steve Bauer is though, so I'm not completely out to lunch.

I'll never forget the 2003 Cycling Championships in Hamilton [I still can't get over how bizarre that actually is]. I was really hoping we'd be able to parlay that event into a semi-regular occurrence but to no avail. I don't think anybody from City Hall actually showed up to watch.

Hopefully word gets round [outside of Quebec] that a Canadian has won a major cycling event.

Thanks for posting.

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

He just rode his way into the history books.

Congratulations!

[MolsonExport]

http://alexwaterhousehayward.com/blog/uploaded_images/bruno-Gerussi-721596.jpg

My Grandfather kicked this guy out (on account of belligerent drunkardness) of the Kelowna hotel bar he was managing back in the early 70s. Said he was a total pompous asshole (Bruno: "Do you know who I am? I will ruin you for this!!")


Bought my first bike in two decades a couple of weeks ago. I am on it at least 1 hour per day, and loving it.

Congrats to Ryder (appropriate name) Hesjedal.

[The Gibbroni]

My Grandfather kicked this guy out (on account of belligerent drunkardness) of the Kelowna hotel bar he was managing back in the early 70s. Said he was a total pompous asshole (Bruno: "Do you know who I am? I will ruin you for this!!")


One of my oldest and best friends is an IATSE guy in Toronto and he's worked with just about anyone you can think of. According to him, the only bigger prick than Bruno is Burton Cummings. Absolute A-hole disaster of a human being. The nicest person ever in show business? Phyllis Diller! (all according to Ken)

Looking forward to seeing Ryder this September. Will be interesting to see the effect his win has on the crowds at Grand Prix Cycliste.

[pEte fiSt iN Ur fAce]

You think Gerussi's a dick? But what about this guy? What a jerkface he was.

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa121/the_dude1974/relic.jpg

[MolsonExport]

I heard that in person, Robert Clothier (Relic) was actually a hell of a guy. Time for a Beachcombers thread.

[Gerrard]

I can vouch for putting Burton Cummings in the a-hole hall of fame. And I ain't one to gossip but I'd probably blame it on mental health or substance abuse issues, just an observation -I am not a doctor :-).

[Witty Nickname]

Devil's advocate says...

How long until PED's are found in his system?

[circle33]

So maybe Ryder Hesjedal will become a proper Canadian celebrity....

Quite possibly. My 7 year old told me after school yesterday how the first Canadian ever won a bike race, so they must be talking about it in the school yard. Of course she thought it was in reference to the local "Bikes on Broadway" races that happened here last week , but it's pointing in the right direction.

[rousseau]

I wonder if he'll get any promotional fees out of this, like a nationwide ad campaign? I assume Cervélo will do something with him, seeing as how he won the Giro on one of their bikes.