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Canadas best-known road cyclist is ready for the London 2012 Olympics, provided he is chosen to represent Canada. But Ryder Hesjedal has plenty of other things on his mind. Coming off his Giro dItalia victory last month, Hesjedal is currently in Spain, preparing for the 2012 Tour de France. The first Canadian to ever win a Grand Tour, Hesjedal will pursue the coveted yellow jersey as the lead rider for Garmin-Barracuda during the Tour, which begins on June 30. Hesjedal is no stranger to the challenges of a busy calendar. He raced the Giro, the Tour de France and the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games all in the same year. Every year since 2008, he has raced both the Tour de France and the Clasica de San Sebastian, a one day race held less than a week after the final stage of the Tour—just like this years Olympic road race. If chosen to represent Canada, Hesjedal will arrive in London just a few days after the end of the Tour de France, in time for the course test day on July 26, 2012. “The Tour de France is preparation for the Olympics,” said Hesjedal in an interview with CTVOlympics.ca. Because Canada has just one Olympic berth in the road race, there is some speculation that the chosen rider may have a hard time competing in the road race where other nations—including Team Great Britain—will have up to five riders. Hesjedal does not see it that way. “It wont be the first time Im in a top race by myself. Just because you have a team doesnt mean everyone can help you. Once those real one-days get down to a selection, if the selection is small, 15-20 people or less, not many people have teammates, so the whole team component is out the window. Thats usually how it is anyways.” He is ready to embrace the challenge. “Everyone is trying to figure out how [the road race is] going to go down, but you have no idea,” said Hesjedal. “If youre talking about a World Tour one-day, where 22 teams have nine riders each, thats a big difference,” said Hesjedal. “If I can be on the podium in that scenario, I look at the Olympics [where] the peloton is only 140 riders, and there are going to be a lot of nations there that arent really in the World Tour at the biggest level, so the level [of competition] wont be as high.” It is no secret that Team GB will focus on getting sprinter and World Champion Mark Cavendish to the finish as part of a bunch sprint. In such conditions, Cavendish is devastatingly fast. “Who wants to go to the line with a bunch sprint against Cavendish? Nobody.” Not to mention, having teammates means Great Britains riders will be partly responsible for how the race unfolds. “Other teams that have full quota are looking to win the race, and theyre going to take that responsibility, whether thats chasing down breaks, or controlling the race,” said Hesjedal. During the nine repetitions of the Box Hill portion of the circuit (which many consider the most challenging part of the Olympic course), riders will race up a total climb of 1080 metres, at a rate of 4.9% grade—comparable to the famed Alpe dHuez in the French Alps. For many teams, this is where the strategy comes in. “Maybe the sprint is down to between 10-15 guys, or maybe its eight, you never know, and once that selection is made on the circuit, theres 40km of flat to the finish, it gets even more dangerous,” explained Hesjedal. “Guys want to start attacking and being aggressive from there, so the chances that a small group slips away are very high, based on the makeup of the peloton.” Such a scenario is how stages and one-day classics in road cycling often end. It could also be enough to neutralize Cavendish and give Hesjedal a chance to emerge late in the race. “If everyone plays that card of making it as hard as possible on that Box Hill circuit, then thats the best case scenario for me. Get a small selection, as small as possible,” he said. The Olympic time trial will takes place four days after the road race. Hesjedal sees the more ordered, controlled environment of the time trial as the events biggest challenge. “Its just you against the clock. You go and give it your best. The most straightforward thing you can do,” said Hesjedal. Hesjedal has excelled in time trial components of competitions—he won the Giro dItalia with an impressive sixth place time trial—but he admits he is not a specialist. “You have to look and be realistic and say, there are X guys who are truly the best, its usually pretty consistent – the specialists,” explained Hesjedal. “If youve never been in front of them, then you have to say ‘OK, maybe a medal is not possible.” And if that is the case? “Im still going to race and do my best and represent Canada and try to get a result.” The official Olympic selection will be announce on June 21, 2012. Wholesale NFL Jerseys From China . 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Jayson Werth drove in three runs and Kurt Suzuki added a sacrifice fly for the NL East-leading Nationals, who wwon their fourth straight series and now head home for key series against divisional opponents New York and Atlanta.dddddddddddd Strasburg struck out seven and walked four in six innings to win his third straight start, while Lincecums latest shaky outing was over after just four innings. Brandon Crawford hit a two-run single for the Giants, who began the day in a first-place tie atop the NL West with rival Los Angeles. The Dodgers were set to play a night game at Pittsburgh. ' ' '