PEREIRO DE AGUIAR — Canadian Derek Gee won Friday's individual time trial to move into first place overall at the O Gran Camino cycling race in Spain.
The 27-year-old from Ottawa, riding for the Israel-Premier Tech team, finished the 15.5-kilometre third stage in 23 minutes 17 seconds. Danish rider Magnus Cort dropped out of the lead after finishing fourth on the stage and now sits second overall, five seconds behind Gee.
"I put a lot of pressure on myself to deliver on what was the expectation from the team — and myself — going into today, so I’m really happy," said Gee. “We did some work on the TT (time trial) bike over the winter and I wanted to start the year strongly in the discipline."
Israel-Premier Tech teammate Hugo Houle is 36th overall after finishing ninth in the time trial.
The riders face a 142-kilometre stage Saturday before Sunday's 165.3-kilometre finale ending up in Santiago de Compostela.
Saturday's stage finishes on the Category 3 Alto de Cebreiro, completing a day of climbing.
"It's uncharted territory but I’m looking forward to it," Gee said. "(Saturday) will be a super-hard stage and then the last day could be chaos. Magnus did a great TT today and there are a couple of guys here who are really, really good climbers, so it’s going to be interesting.”
Gee has experience at the race. Three years ago, while a member of the Israel-Premier Tech academy squad, he finished fifth in the O Gran Camino time trial, albeit on a different course.
"This TT holds a special place in my heart because in 2022 my result in this race’s time trial is what helped me get my first pro contract," he said. "It was a hard one then and it was another hard one today."
Gee last led a race at the Criterium du Dauphiné last June in France, spending one day in the yellow jersey coincided with an individual time trial.
Gee was promoted to Israel-Premier Tech's WorldTour squad from its academy in May 2022. He signed a new long-term deal in June 2023 following his breakout performance in his Grand Tour debut at the 2023 Giro d'Italia when he finished second four times and fourth twice.
Gee eventually finished 22nd in the Giro's final general classification standings and was runner-up to Italy’s Jonathan Milan in the points race and France’s Thibaut Pinot in the King of the Mountains standings.
Gee was also honoured as the Giro’s “super combative rider." Gee followed that by finishing ninth overall in last summer's Tour de France.
The Canadian is slated to lead the Israel-Premier Tech team at this year's Giro, which runs May 9 to June 1.
Gee missed two months of racing last year after breaking his collarbone in a crash in Belgium.
He finished 44th in last summer's Olympic road race in Paris and was the top Canadian in the individual time trial, placing 20th.
In September, Gee was 22nd in the individual time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Zurich. He did not finish the road race.
Gee is also an accomplished track cyclist, coming fifth in the team pursuit at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, Canada’s best Olympic result in the event since 1932. In 2019, he was part of the Canadian squad that finished fourth in the team pursuit at the UCI Track World Championships.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 28, 2025
The Canadian Press
