July 6/10 12:49 pm - Ryder Hesjedal Interview - Stage 3

Posted by Editoress on 07/6/10
 

We just finished speaking with Ryder Hesjedal as he sat in the team car heading to the hotel after a superb day in Stage 3 of the Tour de France that saw him finish fourth on the stage, move into fourth on General Classification and win the Most Aggressive Rider award for the stage.

Canadian Cyclist: Ryder, that was pretty amazing to watch.

Ryder Hesjedal: Yeah, it was a pretty unreal day.

CC: Was the plan to attack and get in an early break?

RH: Yeah, that was the clear approach we wanted to take to the race today. It was going to be a good day to be up the road and stay out of trouble.

CC: After you had dropped the rest of the break, and were on your own heading for the finish, did you know that it was Fabian Cancellara leading the chase?

RH: Not really, I didn't know exactly who was behind, but I knew that the selection would be a stellar group. I was pleased to be able to hold them off as long as I could, and I had some hopes of being able to get to the line, but it wasn't to be.

CC: After they caught you, we could see you resting up at the back of the group and then, in the finish it looked like you started an attack but backed off. What was going on in the sprint?

RH: I couldn't get on Thor's [Hushovd] wheel, so I started to make sort of an effort, but it was into a headwind and I had to back off, or else I probably would have been last. I tried again after, but [fourth] was the best I could do.

CC: However, you did get the Most Aggressive Rider award.

RH: Yeah, that was cool; it was pretty nice to stand up on the that podium with those guys. It was a bit of a consolation prize after all that work.

CC: After the terrible day for the team yesterday [five riders crashing], with Christian Vande Velde out of the race, has there been talk about you becoming the protected GC rider?

RH: We haven't talked about that, we just wanted to focus on today after everything that happened yesterday. I think we will let the race sort itself out over the next few days, and let [the GC] sort itself out.