 Hesjedal missed his gamble however, was out-sprinted by Cummings for the victory and had to settle for second place for the stage and 18th in the overall classification.For his strong results over the year and particularly his Giro overall victory, Hesjedal was given the Lionel Conacher Award as Canada's male athlete of the year.Hesjedal's first race of the season was the Volta a Catalunya, where he helped set up his teammate Dan Martin for the general classification victory, while preparing himself for his top priority of the season, the Giro d'Italia.