Arghh! Maybe we didn't get the cyclists' votes out to the poll as well as the soccer fans did. But the results were 46% in favour of Christine Sinclair, with Ryder Hesjedal a close second with 40% of the votes.
Congratulations to Christine. Give her a hand shake, just like you would that rider who just pipped you at the line for the sprint finish.
But really, Ryder's accomplishment in the 2012 Giro d'Italia eclipses everything that happened on the soccer pitches this year. If you've ever raced even one bike race, they are amazingly tough, and much more can go wrong than your fitness simply giving out on you. There's mechanicals. There's the weather. There's crashes caused by other riders. Now, imagine racing about 160km+ each day for virtually 21 days straight! That's a grand tour. That's the Giro d'Italia. Now you don't necessarily have to win all 21 stages - in fact Ryder didn't win any stage of the Giro this year. But you simply must be completely - and I stress completely - consistent to win a grand tour.
I don't think there are any soccer players out there that can show the same level of consistency that Ryder displayed in the Giro. On my blog here, Ryder Hesjedal gets the award for Canadian Athlete of the Year!
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