While his chances of fighting for the win in yesterday’s Flèche Wallonne were dashed when he punctured prior to the second ascent of the Mur de Huy, Ryder Hesjedal has lauded a great team effort in the race, and said that he believes he is on track for a good defence of his Giro d’Italia title.
The tall Canadian has shown signs of improving form of late and was joint team captain with Dan Martin yesterday. Although Martin also punctured, he returned to the bunch with a little less effort than Hesjedal due to the timing of his mishap and the pattern of the race at the time. The Irishman undoubtedly burned up some important energy while doing so, but was able to scoop fourth place with a strong finish on the Mur de Huy. Hesjedal was 19th, 23 seconds behind the winner Dani Moreno (Katusha).
“The team was excellent today,” said Hesjedal after the race. “Thomas Dekker gave me his wheel at the bottom of the Muur and really helped me out, I had to do a huge effort to get up it and have a chance to get back, and [Nathan] Haas was at the top and did a huge effort to help me.”
He rues what might have been, but also recognises what was achieved, in light of the bad luck. That gives him encouragement for Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège, his next target. Further ahead, he believes he is on course for the first Grand Tour of the year, the race he won last season.
“Dan and I had some bad luck but it is still a great result and a really good total team effort day,” he said. “I feel good as I continue to build for the Giro, and Sunday is looking good for us. We're going in with confidence.”