HIGH ACHIEVERS WRAP: Cyclist Derek Gee makes remarkable Tour de France debut, Olympics on tap

By Martin Cleary

Derek Gee has endured, survived and thrived two major, multi-stage cycling conquests in France over the past 50 days.

But the Osgoode, ON., athlete had the ‘luxury’ of a 20-day recovery break between the Criterium du Dauphine, where he was an amazing third overall with one stage victory and five top-10 results, and the Tour de France, where he produced one of the greatest performances by a Canadian rider.

But will the tenacious Gee, who is in his second year with the Israel-Premier Tech program, have enough time to rest and recharge his lithe body to confront yet another demanding challenge – his second Summer Olympic Games, but his first as a road racer? (He helped Canada place fifth in the men’s team pursuit on the track at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.)

Gee has been named to Canadian 2024 Summer Olympic team for road cycling in Paris. The Games will officially open Friday, but competition in a variety of sports will be held on Wednesday and Thursday.

His first of two Olympic races will be the individual time trial, which is scheduled for Saturday. When he comes down the start ramp and heads onto the course, it will come six days after the 21st and final stage of the Tour de France, which is considered the premier race for the world’s best cyclists.

On Aug. 3, Gee is slated to ride for Canada in the gruelling road race with Ottawa’s Michael Woods, who is in his 12th year as a professional rider and his third with Israel-Premier Tech. Woods was fifth in the men’s road race at the Tokyo Olympics.

Rest and recovery will be paramount for Gee as he prepares for the Olympic individual time trial. But there will be plenty of demands as he headed on Monday to Paris from Nice, registers for the Games, becomes familiar with his accommodation, whether in the Athletes’ Village or a hotel, and takes part in Team Canada functions. There’s also training on his schedule. It’s unlikely he will participate in the Opening Ceremony on Friday, which is the night before his time trial.

Once he’s in the Olympic time trial, it will be 32.4 kilometres of leg-burning pain as he will once again push himself to the limit for his fastest possible performance. The Paris-based race will start at Esplanade des Invalides at 10:30 a.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) and finish at Pont Alexandre III. Riders will be sent off at 90-second intervals.

Oddly enough, Gee’s final race in the Tour de France, which was his last race before the Olympics, was an individual time trial. On Sunday, he excelled in a race that is one of his specialties.

Sitting ninth in the General Classification entering the 33.7-kilometre individual time trial, Gee was the ninth last rider to tackle the Tour de France course from Monaco to Nice.

Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates won the individual time trial in 45 minutes, 24 seconds, while Gee was 2:30 back in sixth place. Pogacar, who won six stages in the Tour de France, has withdrawn from the Olympics, citing “extreme fatigue,” according to his team.

Gee’s determined effort in the point-to-point sprint allowed him to finish with a ninth-place overall standing in the General Classification, which was the third best by a Canadian rider. Israel-Premier Tech sports director Steve Bauer, who followed Gee in the team car, was fourth in 1988 and 10th in 1984. Ryder Hesjedal took fifth place in 2010.

Gee was as high as eighth place in the General Classification, after Friday’s Stage 19 of the 21-stage journey.

By finishing ninth overall, he earned 4,500 Euros ($6,739 Canadian), which he’ll likely share with his teammates as well as 2,800 Euros ($4,193 Canadian) for his third-place result in Stage 7. He also will receive prize money for his nine other top-20 stage results.

“It’s overwhelming,” said Gee, who started his debut Tour de France with the idea of chasing stage victories, but quickly found himself in the hunt for a General Classification top-10 result, after placing third in Stage 7, which threatened to be a win.

From that point, Gee flowed in and out of the top 10 as he had four top-10 and six top-12 finishes on the tour. In his final three stages, he was 10th, 12th and sixth.

“I’ve been so nervous in the last few days, being in this position and trying not to blow it, so there is an overwhelming sense of relief to come away with a top-10,” Gee said in an Israel-Premier Tech press release. “It’s a pretty special feeling.

“We had such a good group of riders here and on the road. They have been fantastic. I was supported so well in the team with the wealth of experience we have. All the staff, the directors, everyone, have just been so incredible, so I am glad I was able to finish it off.”

After the Tokyo Olympics, which were staged a year later because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gee switched to road racing from the track. Even during his track off-season, he did some road racing.

He joined XSpeed United Continental in 2021 and was a double bronze medallist at the Canadian road championships in the individual time trial and the road race. In 2022, he joined the Israel Cycling Academy, which saw him win the Canadian men’s individual time trial, place 19th at the world championships and post two top-10 stage results in international events.

Gee was promoted to the Israel-Premier Tech team last year and took full advantage of that by becoming the talk of the Giro d’Italia, which is the first of the three Grand Tours along with the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España.

His all-out riding produced four second-place Giro stage results as well as two fourth-place finishes, which allowed him to place second in the mountain classification and the points classification. He also won the combativity award.

Israel-Premier Tech owner Sylvan Adams of Montreal was totally impressed by Gee’s three-week effort and offered him a contract extension through 2028. Gee accepted the deal.

“I had no idea how my legs were going to be and it has been that way the last few days with a question mark around how my legs would be this deep into a race,” Gee said about the final days of the Tour de France.

“I knew I was having a good climb and then on the descent, once I heard the time gaps to the top-10, I knew I had to not mess it up and not crash so I was a bit tentative on the descent.”

Teamwork paid huge dividends not only for Gee, but also Pascal Ackermann, who had three third-place sprint finishes. Israel-Premier Tech had 13 top-10 results and three podium finishes.

“As an overall team effort, it was fabulous,” Bauer said. “We had a goal every stage, we always shot for a stage win and Pascal and the sprint train did an amazing job.

“Then Derek came through and almost won a stage (Stage 7) on the gravel and then we were in the GC game so that gave us a new direction with confirmation of what he can do.”

Gee enters the Olympics having cycled 10,059 kilometres over 65 days this season.

ZOE WOJTYK, EVIE McDONALD WIN BRONZE AT U23 WORLDS

Rideau Canoe Club’s Zoe Wojtyk was a double bronze medallist at the International Canoe Federation U23 and junior world canoe championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

Competing in the U23 canoe class, Wojtyk captured the bronze in the women’s C1 1,000 metres in four minutes, 36.491 seconds.

Wojtyk and Rideau’s Evie McDonald joined Julia Lilley Osende of the Mic Mac Aquatic Canoe Club and Jacy Grant of Cheema Aquatic Club to earn the bronze medal in the women’s U23 C4 500-metre final. They were timed in 1:52.104.

McDonald also was seventh in the C1 200 metres in 49.158 seconds, which was a mere 1.1 seconds from the gold medal. In Wojtyk’s other final, she was ninth in the U23 mixed C2 500 metres in 1:59.902.

Ruby Muhl of Rideau recorded a pair of fifth-place showings in the women’s junior C1 200 metres in 49.074 seconds, which left her half a second out of first place, and the C4 500 metres in 1:56.469.

Muhl and Rideau head coach Cheyanne Farquharson were recently named one of eight athlete-coach partnerships to win a Canada Olympic Committee Foundation Future Olympians Fund Award. The fund helps support NextGen athletes and coaches. Muhl and Farquharson will receive $5,000 apiece for each of the next two years.

Rideau also had two junior kayakers reach A finals at the worlds: Henrik Neuspiel, men’s K4 500 metres, and Callie Loch, women’s K4 500 metres.

RACHEL CULLUM COUNTS 3 TRIES IN CANADA’S WIN OVER ENGLAND

Sporting a 23-player roster, including three with Ottawa connections, Canada has won its first two games at the inaugural women’s U20 Transatlantic Quad Series. Canada is scheduled to play host Wales on Wednesday.

Ottawa’s Rachel Cullum, who plays for Queen’s University and Kingston Panthers, scored three tries to spark Canada to an uplifting 36-33 victory over England. Canada led 22-0 at halftime.

In its opening game, Canada downed the United States 23-10.

Canada’s roster also includes Jiggy Schonfeld of Ottawa, the Bytown Blues and Queen’s, and Ella Blyth of Oshawa, the Ottawa Banshees and the University of Ottawa.

WILLEM FIRTH, THOMAS KIAZYK FINALISTS FOR LACROSSE AWARDS

Two Ottawa players have been nominated as finalists for three Ontario Junior A Lacrosse League awards.

Willem Firth of the Toronto Beaches is being considered for the most valuable player and most outstanding player awards. Beaches’ Thomas Kiazyk, a former Nepean Knights junior B player, is in the running for the most valuable goalkeeper award.

Firth and Kiazyk, who was selected in the 2023 National Lacrosse League draft by the Saskatchewan Rush, also were named to the league’s first all-star team.

LAST, BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST

• Owen Dansereau of the Nepean-Ottawa Diving Club won a gold medal in the three-metre event and two silvers (1 m and platform) in the C1 men’s age division at the Canadian junior development national diving championships in Regina. At the earlier junior elite nationals, Nepean-Ottawa’s Ella Lindsay won gold on platform, silver on 1 m and bronze on 3 m in the women’s group B event, while Audrée Brazeau-Howes of the Ottawa National Diving Club placed fourth on 1 m and platform in women’s group A.

• Powerlifter Alexandra Schella of Carp finished second in the women’s junior U19 class at the Nantucket Triathlon in Nantucket, Massachusetts. She was timed in one hour, 34 minutes and 16 seconds and was 55th overall in the women’s race.

• Maxime Marengere of the Rivermead Golf Club tied for seventh place at the Quebec men’s amateur golf championship with a nine-under-par 283 from rounds of 69-68-75-71, while Ellis Kinnaird of Mississippi shared 11th, after posting scores of 70-69-76-71 for a six-under 286.

• Isabella Ferguson of the Ottawa Hunt fired rounds of 74-79-75 for a 12-over-par 228 and a tie for fourth place at the Quebec women’s amateur. Royal Ottawa’s Madeleine Pytura was 11th at 78-79-80-237.

• At the rain-shortened Ottawa Valley Golf Association city and district championships, the champions were Sebastien Deguire, Ottawa Hunt, men’s class A, 33-36-70-139; Lise Jubinville, Hylands, women’s class A, 73-38-111; Ryan Ladouceur, Carleton, men’s B, 36-46-82-164; and Leanne Stoppa, Oaks of Cobden, women’s B, 84-45-129.

• Ann-Sophie Bourgault scored the maximum six points in the final foursome to give Royal Ottawa a come-from-behind victory in the class A division at the Ottawa Valley Golf Association women’s intersectional championship at Rivermead. Royal Ottawa finished with 27 points, while the Ottawa Hunt was second at 24. The other winners included Camelot, class B; Eagle Creek, class C; Greyhawk, class D; Greensmere, class E; Buckingham, class F; Prescott, class G; Mountain Creek, class J; Larrimac, class K; and Manderley, class L.

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