When I was sprouting into a young man in the 1980s, I was (and still am) what is described as a sports junkie. One sport I took a liking to was cycling. But I wasn’t content just to ride my bike along Laval’s long farm roads. No, I had to learn about the history of the sport.
Soon enough, I was armed with knowledge about the Grand Tours - Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana - as well as keeping up with the UCI circuit and rankings. This included the famous cycling names from Fausto Coppi, Eddie Merckx, Bernard Hineault, Miguel Indurain and Greg LeMond to but name a precious few. See the list of cycling’s all-time greatest here. Not surprisingly, Italy, Belgium and France dominate the rankings.
Being Canadian, and a proud one at the time, I above all followed the careers of Steve Bauer and Alex Steida.
Bauer finished 4th overall at the Tour de France in 1988 - 4th! Still a Canadian best while Steida was the first North American to ever wear the coveted the coveted Yellow jersey at the prestigious tour in 1986.
Since Bauer and Steida, there hasn’t really been a cyclist to continue in their path. In fact, the 80s were a promising time for not just Canadian cycling but soccer as well. Remember we made the World Cup in 1986? That year, Canadian captain Bruce Wilson presented me with an MVP award at a tournamet at Cap de La Madelaine in Quebec. I was convinced Canada had arrived and the way they played against tournament favorites France early on (we lost 1-0), how could we not be proud and but look ahead? And then it all stopped. But soccer is not the point of this post.
Under the radar screen of most Canadian sports media outlets, Ryder Hesjedal powered his way to a 49th overall finish at the 2009 Tour de France (he was 45th in 2008). Just as impressivley he was a top three rider for Team Garmin-Slipstream behind teammates British rider Bradley Wiggins who finished fourth overall and eight place finisher American Christian Vande Velde.
It’s nice to finally see Canadian representation at prestigious racing tournaments. Hesjedal deserves some attention. He’s earned it.