Ryder Hesjedal will need to make friends if he hopes for a medal in Olympic cycling race

An ability to make friends on the fly will be a huge asset in Ryder Hesjedal's quest to win a medal in Saturday's men's road race at the London Olympics.

Teamwork will be essential in the 250-kilometre bicycle race through London and the surrounding English countryside. Teammates ride in each other's slipstream to save energy. They work as a unit to swap leads or hunt down a rider that has broken from the pack.

The challenge facing Hesjedal is he will be the lone rider wearing the Maple Leaf in the first medal event of the Games. He will be fighting for space against five-man teams from cycling powers like Great Britain and Australia.

Even as a lone wolf Hesjedal believes he can still bring some bite to the race.

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"Fortunately I know all the guys out there so it's pretty straightforward," he told Wayne Scanlan of the Postmedia Olympic Team. "I can ride off the other teams and find my own way.

"The only situation that's going to be good for me is a small group, if the race is really hard as early as possible and I can arrive with a small group. There won't be many guys with teammates at that point."

Canada will have three riders in Sunday's women's race. Veteran Clara Hughes, who could become Canada's most decorated Olympian while competing in her sixth Games, leads the team. Joining her are two first-time Olympians Joelle Numainville and Denise Ramsden.

Hesjedal became a cycling superstar in Canada by winning the Giro d'Italia earlier this year. The 31-year-old from Victoria became the first Canadian to win a Grand Tour event. The victory was even more surprising considering he did not win a single stage of the race.

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Hesjedal's strength is climbing. Some people believe the Olympic road race could boil down to a sprint at the end. Hesjedal is not known as an elite sprinter.

An edge Hesjedal will carry into London is the rest he enjoyed while most of the other top riders in the world shed sweat and blood at the Tour de France.

Hesjedal went into the world's most famous cycling race hoping for a top result but was injured in a horrific crash in Stage 6. He abandon the race with hip and leg injuries. After spending time recuperating and training in Spain he comes to London reinvigorated and excited.

"I was in top form at the Tour and I don't think I lost any of that conditioning," he said. "I'm even more optimistic in my ability to perform in these one-day events."

Hesjedal's better chance at a medal could be in Wednesday's time trial at Hampton Court Palace. In that event riders start individually and race against the clock.

At the 2008 Beijing Games he was 56th in the road race and 16th in the time trial.

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English riders will be weighed down with huge expectations in the road race. Britain's Bradley Wiggins and teammate Chris Froome finished first and second in the Tour de France Sunday. Mark Cavendish, considered the world's top sprinter, won the final sprint.

Hesjedal says the British are formidable but not unbeatable.

"They're going to take the initiative,'' he told The Globe and Mail. "They're going to control the race, so it will be everyone against them if they take that stance.

"We'll see what happens.''

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