Just over four months after being feted by his native city of Victoria upon his return from the Olympic Games, world-class cyclist Ryder Hesjedal rode off with another award on Thursday.
The just-turned 32-year-old was voted the top male competitor in the 16th annual Canadian Cyclist of the Year awards, easily beating out another Victoria product, Geoff Kabush, for the honour.
Catharine Pendrel, of Kamloops, won the women鈥檚 award for her efforts in 2012.
鈥淭o win the Giro [d鈥橧talia] and represent my country at the Olympics makes this a special year,鈥� Hesjedal said in a release, taking a break from training in Hawaii. 鈥淭hanks to everyone for all the support throughout the years and your vote once again in a very tough competition.鈥�
Award winners are tabulated from thousands of votes over an eight-day period, submitted through the CanadianCyclist.com website.
Hesjedal鈥檚 sixth-place finish in the final stage of the Giro d鈥橧talia race, which clinched the overall victory, was also voted the top individual performance of the year, followed by the Olympic bronze medal track cycling performance of the women鈥檚 team pursuit squad.
That team included another Victorian, Gillian Carleton, as well as Jasmin Glaesser of Coquitlam and Edmonton鈥檚 Tara Whitten.
It was the third time Hesjedal 鈥� the first Canadian to ever win a Grand Tour of cycling event with his victory in the Giro d鈥橧talia 鈥� has won the men鈥檚 Cyclist of the Year honour, one of the nation鈥檚 oldest and most prestigious peoples鈥� choice awards.
Hesjedal, who also won in 2009 and 2010, finished well ahead of Kabush in voting, capturing 63 per cent of the first-place votes.
Kabush, who placed eighth at the London Olympics in the mountain bike race (the highest finish ever for a Canadian male), garnered 10 per cent of the first-place votes.
According to the statement, road professional Hugo Houle, of Sainte-Perpetue, Que., was third. Houle finished fourth at the Road World Championships.
Pendrel, who captured three Mountain Bike World Cup victories and the overall World Cup title, finished ahead of Olympic road racer Clara Hughes, of Winnipeg, who was fifth in the individual time trial at the London Olympic Games. The Paralympic tandem team of Robbi Weldon (Thunder Bay, Ont.) and Lyne Bessette (Knowlton, Que.) was third.
Pendrel, who previously won the top Canadian cyclist award in 2009 and 2011, drew 43.9 per cent of first-place votes, compared to Hughes鈥檚 30.8 per cent.
鈥淲ow, I am honoured,鈥� Pendrel said in the statement. 鈥�2012 had its ups and downs, but this is a pleasant reminder of how successful the season was as a whole.鈥�
Hesjedal 鈥� who captured the famous pink jersey for his Giro d鈥橧talia win 鈥� was honoured in Victoria back in August, complete with a parade up Government Street.
Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin announced at that time that the city would install two pink bike racks, one in Centennial Square and the other at the Cecelia Ravine bike skills park, in the athlete鈥檚 honour. Hesjedal said then that he was honoured by the city鈥檚 gesture and pleased it would ultimately benefit the community.
