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It was a pretty crazy scene at St. Pancras train station in London today when Canadian cyclist Ryder Hesjedal arrived from Belgium where he’s been training.
There was a huge scrum of Canadian media waiting for the Giro d’Italia champ and we were all arranged in a semicircle right in front of the where the passengers on the Eurostar train were entering the station.
Hesjedal might be known in Canada, but more than a few Londoners were disappointed when they were told who we were waiting for, so one reporter told a couple of girls we were waiting for Justin Bieber.
When Hesjedal came out, the scrum moved forward and then a COC press attache led Hesjedal away from the doors. That was probably a smart move given the way traffic was being held up.
There was a wild couple of moments with cameramen in front of Hesjedal, backpedaling to take video of him walking through the station.
A spot was picked to do the interview and it was pretty orderly after that.
The upshot is Hesjedal said he is recovered from his bruised leg and hip, has been training well, but feels he will be in tough in the road race Saturday.
He’s the only Canadian and won’t have teammates to work with as far as drafting and strategy go. Surviving that scrum was his first test of the Games.