Ryder Hesjedal

Ryder Hesjedal is a Canadian cyclist who raced as a professional in mountain biking and on the road between 1998 and 2016. He won silver medals at the junior, under-23 and elite mountain bike world championships and turned professional with U.S. Postal Service in 2004 after several years with the Rabobank continental team. On the road he finished fifth at the 2010 Tour de France and won the 2012 Giro d'Italia, the first Grand Tour victory by a Canadian, along with two Vuelta a España stages that were also firsts for a Canadian. He later admitted to using erythropoietin after Michael Rasmussen alleged in his autobiography that he had taught Hesjedal how to take it, saying he had chosen the wrong path.