HIGH ACHIEVERS WEEKEND WRAP: Derek Gee captures first overall stage cycling title

By Martin Cleary

Gee whiz Derek, you certainly knew how to kick off the 2025 international cycling season in a grand fashion.

A year ago at this time, the Israel-Premier Tech rider from Osgoode, ON, was recovering from a broken collarbone, after a crash at a race in Germany. He could only follow the O Gran Camino stage race in Spain from afar.

But fully healed and fully confident after a ninth-place, debut result at the 2024 Tour de France on his resume, Derek Gee showed his versatility on the mountains and gravel as well as the time trial to win the O Gran Camino – The Historical Route for his first-ever General Classification stage victory.

He also was first in the mountain classification, third in the points classification and helped Israel-Premier Tech to a seventh-place showing in the team standings.

After finishing with the same time as the leader in each of the first two stages and placing 41st and 10th respectively, Gee was ninth overall entering the final three days. That’s when he took over and became the talk of the O Gran Camino.

A strong time-trial rider, Gee sprinted the 15.6-kilometre course in an unmatched 23 minutes, 17.948 seconds. The Ottawa Bicycle Club product won the race by 17 seconds and moved to the top of the individual GC standings by five seconds over Magnus Cort of Denmark and UNO-X Mobility. Gee said his team did a lot of work on his time-trial bike in the off season to help him have an impressive start to the season.

In the fourth stage, Gee showed his impressive climbing skills in the mountains to finish second and improved his advantage to 37 seconds. As much as he wanted a second win in as many days, the challenge of the mountains prevented him from going solo for another win.

Gee continually praised the impeccable work of his teammates, especially in the final stage five, where he had to deal with multiple passes over unpredictable gravel patches.

“Today was actually great,” said Gee, who finished the 635-kilometre trek in 15 hours, 21 minutes, 23 seconds, which was 35 seconds ahead of Davide Piganzoli of Italy and Team Polti Visit Malta. Cort, who won three stages, was third overall, 38 seconds back.

“It’s pretty cool to win my first GC. I love this race. I wanted to win it coming in. That was the goal, but winning races is not easy. I’m overjoyed.

“Really, really happy. 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.”

The O Gran Camino held a special place in his heart even before this year’s race. In 2022, Gee was fifth in the individual time trial and that result helped him secure his first pro contract with Israel-Premier Tech.

“It was a hard one then and it was another hard one today,” added Gee, who is preparing for the seven-stage Tirreno-Adriatico, which starts Monday.

“I was pretty stressed going into it (stage five), but I couldn’t have asked for a better team. I mean, I was at the front all day. They won every fight into all the important sectors. They controlled the breakaway and there was almost no stress because they were so good today.”

Gee wore the leader’s yellow jersey for the final three stages. And when he finished stage five with the championship, he took it off, autographed it and gave it to a young boy, who a decade from now may win a stage race and say he was inspired by Gee.

Gee whiz Derek, you certainly know how to promote the sport.

FIRST-TIME CLASH FOR CARLETON, OTTAWA IN OUA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL FINAL

History will be made Saturday at the Ravens Nest, when the Carleton University Ravens will face the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees for the first time in the OUA women’s basketball championship final.

The Ravens and Gee-Gees traditionally meet twice a year and have done so for decades, but never in the 55-year history of OUA women’s basketball have the crosstown rivals clashed for the provincial title.

This Ravens-Gee-Gees confrontation for the Critelli Cup was made possible last Saturday, when No. 1-ranked Carleton turned back No. 9 Toronto Metropolitan University Bold 76-60 and the No. 4 University of Ottawa outscored the No. 8 University of Windsor Lancers 81-53 in the OUA semifinals.

Five players scored in double figures for the Ravens and Jacqueline Urban led the group with 17 points and 15 rebounds. Kyana-Jade Poulin and Tatyanna Burke had matching 13-point efforts with three and six rebounds respectively. Dorcas Buisa was strong with 12 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals, while Teresa Donato came off the bench for 12 points.

Catrina Garvey, a graduate of the Capital Courts high school prep program, was one of the Bold’s top players with nine points in 21 minutes.

The Gee-Gees were sparked by Bailey Russell, who also came off the bench for 20 points and two rebounds, while Allie McCarthy counted a double-double 16 points and 11 rebounds and Natsuki Szczokin finished with 12 points, six assists, two rebounds and two steals.

Between 2011 and 2025, Carleton has reached the OUA final seven times with wins in 2024, 2023, 2018 and 2017. Ottawa will make its ninth OUA women’s basketball final appearance and has victories in 2004 and 2012.

The No. 2-ranked Gee-Gees will face the No. 5 Queen’s University Gaels in the OUA men’s basketball final on Saturday at Montpetit Hall.

The Gee-Gees rolled to a comfortable 89-56 win over the Bold, while the Gaels staged a late rally for a 64-62 home-court win over the Ontario Tech University Ridgebacks. Ottawa led its game 57-22 at halftime.

Three players were the strength of the Gee-Gees’ offence – Justin Ndjock-Tadjore with 18 points, six assists, three steals and two rebounds, Jacques-Melaine Guemeta with 17 points and five rebounds, and Dragan Stajic with 16 points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals.

The Gee-Gees will be looking for their fourth OUA men’s championship, after winning in 2023, 2014 and 1993. Ottawa has made 14 appearances in the national men’s university championship, winning two silver and three bronze medals, but never the coveted W.P. McGee Trophy.

The U Sports men’s and women’s basketball championships will be staged March 13-16 at the University of British Columbia.

EARLY EXIT FOR GEE-GEES HOCKEY TEAMS

The OUA men’s hockey season is complete for the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, but they still have a chance to win the University Cup at the U Sports championship.

Despite being swept 4-3 and 7-3 by the Queen’s University Gaels in the OUA quarterfinals, the Gee-Gees will serve as the host school for the first time when the national championship will be held at The Arena at TD Place March 20-23.

Marc-Antoine Seguin, Alexis Bonefon and Nicolas Kingsbury-Fournier scored for Ottawa in the 4-3 loss. The Gee-Gees had a different group of marksmen in the second game – Vincent Labelle, Peter Stratis and Mitch Martin.

In the OUA women’s hockey quarterfinals, the Gee-Gees fell 4-1 and 3-1 to the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. Arianne Gagnon scored in the first game for Ottawa and Beatrice Bilodeau had the Gee-Gees’ only goal in the second game.

OTTAWA CURLERS WIN GOLD, SILVER AT U SPORTS CURLING FINALS

Ottawa’s Emma Artichuk skipped the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks to the U Sports national women’s curling championship in Lethbridge, while Owen Nicholls led the Carleton University curling squad to the men’s silver medal.

Artichuk, third Sarah Bailey, second Scotia Maltman, lead Tori Zemmelink, alternate Logan Shaw and coach John Gabel were unbeaten in nine games, defeating Rachel Steele of the McMaster University Marauders 5-4 in the final by scoring one in the eighth and final end.

The Golden Hawks were first in round-robin pool play at 7-0 and downed Allyson MacNutt of the Dalhousie University Tigers 9-4 in the semifinals.

“It feels just so amazing,” Artichuk told Curling Canada in a press release. “All the girls worked so hard all year. They played amazing all week and I’m just so happy we were able to put it away and come out with the win.”

Four men’s teams finished tied at 4-3 in preliminary action and Carleton earned a playoff spot in fourth.

Nicholls, third Jordan McNamara, second Jack Ragan, lead Jacob Clarke, alternate Philip Burgess and coach Tom Sinclair turned back Simon Perry of Memorial University Seahawks 6-3 in the semifinals, but lost the final 7-4 to the Golden Hawks’ Kibo Mulima.

It was the fifth national curling title for the men’s and women’s Golden Hawks teams and the fourth time one school has won both titles in the same year.

The Wilfrid Laurier teams earned first-team All-Canadian status, while Carleton picked up second-team All-Canadian honours.

SACHA VASILIEV EARNS TWO OUA MEN’S FENCING FOIL MEDALS

The University of Ottawa’s Sacha Vasiliev was a double medallist in foil at the OUA men’s fencing championships in Kingston.

Vasiliev joined Gee-Gees teammates Daniel Oroszlan, Julien Turk and Ian MacEwen to win the team foil gold medal. In the individual foil event, the top-ranked Vasiliev earned the silver medal, after losing the final to Mike Howard of the University of Toronto Varsity Blues.

JESS HONG BRINGS U SPORTS WRESTLING BRONZE TO CARLETON

Carleton University Ravens’ Jess Hong defeated Cyenna Trotman of the University of Western Mustangs by a fall at 4:09 to win the bronze medal in the women’s 50-kilogram class at the U Sports wrestling championships.

Teammate Heaven-Lee Emond competed for bronze in the women’s 68-kilogram class, but lost to Kylee Lubbers of the University of Guelph Gryphons by pinfall at 5:47 and finished fourth.

Carleton, which was 11th in the team standings, also had three other top-eight finishers – Ziad Saif El Nasr, sixth, men’s 65 kilograms; Ifeatu Melifonwu, seventh, men’s 100-125 kilograms, and Alecsandra Vlad, eighth, women’s 72 kilograms.

IVANIE BLONDIN SHARES WORLD CUP MIXED RELAY SPEED SKATING TITLE

Gloucester’s Ivanie Blondin and Anders Johnson of Burnaby, B.C., have won the inaugural International Skating Union long-track speed skating mixed relay World Cup title.

After posting a pair of third-place results in the first two races earlier this season, Blondin and Johnson were fifth in the final mixed relay at Heerenveen, The Netherlands, which secured them the championship. Canada was timed in three minutes, 1.58 seconds, while Switzerland was first in 2:59.09.

Blondin also was the women’s mass start silver medallist and placed 16th in the 1,500 metres at 1:56.91.

Gloucester’s Isabelle Weidemann missed her second individual medal of the season in the women’s 3,000 metres, when she placed fourth in 4:01.65.

The world championships will be staged March 13-16 in Hamar, Norway.

QUARTERFINAL FINISH FOR CANADA TOPFLIGHT ACADEMY

Canada Topflight Academy posted a strong finish to its inaugural season in the Elite Prep Basketball League, which is comprised of teams in the eastern United States.

The Notre Dame High School-based team went 1-1 in the bracket playoffs and was eliminated Tuesday in the quarterfinals by the top-ranked school.

The ninth-ranked CTA edged eighth-ranked Winston Salem Christian 67-65 in the play-in for the final quarter-final berth. Warris Njoya was named the player of the game for his effort of 20 points and five rebounds. Dylan Kayijuka had a matching 20 points and eight rebounds.

In its quarterfinal, CTA was defeated 88-68 by top-ranked Highland, whose best player is highly recruited power forward Nate Ament, a potential NBA draft pick in 2027. CTA trailed Highland 50-42 at halftime.

Kayijuka was selected to the All-League defensive second team, while Njoya was an All-League honourable mention all-star.

LAST, BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST

· Antoine Cyr of Skinouk battled a snowstorm and recorded a best-ever individual result of 18th in the men’s 10-kilometre classic race at the world cross-country skiing championships in Trondheim, Norway. He was only .8 seconds out of the top 15. Nakkertok Ski Club’s Katherine Stewart-Jones, competing in her second race after a concussion a month ago, was 27th in the women’s 10-kilomere classic.

· Jared Schmidt of Dunrobin, ON, was a quarterfinalist in a pair of World Cup ski cross races in Gudauri, Georgia, placing ninth and 13th.

· Two-time Olympian Amy Millar of Perth and Jagger HX contributed two clean rounds as Canada placed fourth in the Nations Cup equestrian show jumping competition in Wellington, Florida.

· Canada is tied for fourth place at 4-3 at the world wheelchair curling championships in Stevenston, Scotland. In its two games Tuesday, Canada lost 10-5 to England before defeating Scotland 12-6. Collinda Joseph of Stittsville plays lead for Canada.

· CEGEP de l’Outaouais Griffons are representing Quebec at the eight-team Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association men’s volleyball championship, which starts Wednesday in Winnipeg.