Hesjedal into eighth at Tour, calls Thursday “My best day on the bike”

Racing on what most considered to be the Queen Stage of this year’s Tour de France, Victoria’s Ryder Hesjedal had a fantastic day to finish fourth. It moved the Team Garmin-Transitions rider into eighth place in the general classification, with only Friday’s flat sprinter’s stage, Saturday’s individual time trial and Sunday’s finale into Paris left.

Hesjedal was in a group chasing race leaders Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck as they raced up to the summit finish atop the legendary Col du Tourmalet, but he broke free from the group and finished fourth. After the stage, where Hesjedal finished only 1:27 behind winner Schleck, of Saxo Bank, Astana’s Contador and Katusha’s Joaquin Rodriguez, he called it his best day on the bike. Considering the level of riders he left in the mist behind him Thursday, that’s likely true.

“Fourth on the Tourmalet, in the context (of the stage), sure, it’s my best day on the bike,” he told Cycling News. “I felt great, and I’ve been feeling better every day. I knew I was going to have a good day. I just stayed calm all day and that was it – I was able to follow and be comfortable all the way up the climb, then I was able to put a good move in at the end.

“As soon as the first attacks went from Alberto and Andy, and all the guys broke up behind, I was just super comfortable and was able to bridge up to the first chasers. (Robert) Gesink was doing most of the work and I was just comfortable. There was no need for me to do any more than sit tight and try a little dig at the end.”

Hesjedal sits nine minutes and 18 seconds behind Contador. Team Sky’s Michael Barry, of Toronto, sits 99^th at two hours, 59 minutes, 58 seconds back.