Hesjedal the new leader of Garmin-Transitions?

With the leader of the Garmin-Transitions team out of the Tour de France, and with just 46 seconds separating Ryder Hesjedal from the yellow jersey, it’s not surprising the Canadian is being considered as a possible new leader of the American squad. As the race heads into the mountains, Hesjedal is sitting fourth overall and his name is being mentioned now as a potential Top 10 finisher of the Tour, or even better than that.

Hesjedal’s position on the team was cemented during the dramatic third stage Monday when he got himself into a breakaway that lasted for 200 km. Hesjedal dropped his breakaway companions and wasn’t caught until there were 6.5 km to go in the 213 km stage. The Victoria native was still able to hang with the lead group and finished fourth on the day – well ahead of most of the main Tour contenders.

Garmin director Jonathan Vaughters said on his twitter page that Hesjedal “could aim for the top 5.”

Also interesting to see is Hesjedal’s data from Stage 3. Garmin posted his ride data and it shows Hesjedal averaged more than 43 km-h over the stage and had an average heart rate of 144 bpm.

Here’s the full data sheet from the stage: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/39457636