By Martin Cleary
Frustrating start. Uplifting middle segment. Fantastic finish.
Those six words adequately describe Derek Gee-West’s third career, three-week Giro d’Italia road cycling adventure, which started May 8 in Bulgaria and ended Sunday in Rome.
Making his Grand Tour debut with the German-based Lidl-Trek, after his remarkable career with the now-defunct Israel-Premier Tech ended in a nightmarish departure during the past year, Gee-West combined resilience, patience, determination and desire to scratch out six top-10 stage results and finish fifth overall in the Giro’s General Classification.
A Lidl-Trek news release at the end of the Giro, perfectly described Gee-West’s 3,469-kilometre Giro, which took more than a combined 253 hours of pedalling.
“In Bulgaria, Gee-West was caught in a crash on stage two and lost (more than) a minute, after a chaotic neutralisation and restart,” the release said. “The Canadian refused to let it define his race, dug deep with characteristic determination and steadily climbed the GC standings.
“A superb time trial put him firmly on the path to success and in the final week, Diesel Derek’s engine was firing on all cylinders, (producing) the finest week of Grand Tour racing of his career.”
Gee-West’s impressive fifth-place showing, which almost included his first-ever Grand Tour victory, came close to matching his fourth-place result at the 2025 Giro. His runner-up finish in stage 19 on Friday was the fifth second-place result in his Giro career. The first four second-place results were in his remarkable 2023 Giro debut.
Hoping for a strong start this year, Gee-West was involved in a crash in stage two, which caused him to lose a valuable minute and see him relegated to 42nd place in the General Classification. After stage three, he dropped to 47th.
But he rebounded and started a slow climb up the overall time standings. Gee-West recorded an eighth-place result in stage eight and suddenly he was 13th in the General Classification.
That result inspired him to turn a corner towards good fortune. In the second week, he placed sixth in stage nine and fifth in stage 10, surging into eighth place in the overall standings. He was fifth in the individual time trial, which is one of his strengths as a road racer.
Entering the final week, Gee-West was in ninth overall, but he was about to set off some fireworks. A fifth-place showing in stage 16 pushed him up to No. 6 in the standings as he trailed leader and eventual winner Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark by seven minutes and nine seconds.
In stage 19 on Friday, Gee-West came close to his first Grand Tour win, when he was 13 seconds behind American winner Sepp Kuss of Visma-Lease a Bike. That result lifted him into fifth place in the standings and left him only 6:31 behind Vingegaard of Visma-Lease a Bike.
Gee-West was impressive again in stage 20, the second last stage, as he stopped in fourth place. But he actually lost time to the leader with a 7:56 deficit. In the stage-21 finale on Sunday, he was 49th, but it didn’t affect his numbers of fifth overall and 7:56 behind.
“The atmosphere has been good the whole time,” Gee-West was quoted in the release, “so it has been a really fun group of guys to race with. I’m just really, really, really happy with it.
“It is frustrating to take one GC spot back from last year, but, honestly, I think my level is higher. I had such a hard race. I think it’s really nice for the confidence moving forward and hopefully to come back and try and crack that podium.
“I think it’s also motivational – to go fourth and fifth is super frustrating – so it’s something to aim for in the future. I was really happy with my level at the end of the race.
“The last two Giros, the first week has just been about damage control and then, yeah, luckily it has built in a way where the third week can make the biggest difference. That seems to be where my legs come good. I’d like them to come good at some point in week one, but better this than never.”
UNDEFEATED CARLETON WOMEN WIN THIRD 3×3 FISU AMERICA TITLE
The Carleton University Ravens women’s basketball team certainly knows how to win, whether it’s the traditional 5-on-5 game or the 3×3 version.
After winning the 2026 U Sports women’s consolation title in March, four members of the Ravens travelled to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and captured the FISU America women’s 3×3 basketball championship for the third consecutive year.
The unbeaten Ravens defeated the University of Saskatchewan Huskies 21-15 in the final, which was Carleton’s fifth consecutive FISU America 3×3 championship game. The win extended Carleton’s win streak in the tournament to 16 games.
Kyana-Jade Poulin was the Ravens’ most outstanding player, but she had strong support from Tyanne Matosas-Adderley, Catherine Oliver and Jacqueline Urban.
Carleton defeated Argentina’s Universidad Nacional de La Matanza 21-10 in the semifinals.
AUDREY LEDUC POSTS SEASON-BEST 200-METRE TIME IN MOROCCO
After a double silver-medal performance at the recent World Relays, Gatineau’s Audrey Leduc posted a season-best time of 22.41 seconds to earn the women’s 200-metre bronze medal at the opening Diamond League track and field meet in Rabat, Morocco.
Leduc will be one of the premier athletes at the 2026 Canadian track and field championships June 17-21 on the Terry Fox Athletic Facility track.
Meanwhile at the Bob Vigars Classic in London, ON, Madison McLean of the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club won the women’s open javelin with a best toss of 44.92 metres and clubmate David Moulongou was first in the men’s open 400 metres in 46.76 seconds.
The Lions also received silver-medal efforts from Maria Okwechime, who was second in the women’s open long jump at 5.94 metres, and Leo Wallner, who tied for that position going 4.15 metres in the men’s open pole vault.
In the men’s elite 110-metre hurdles, David Adeleye, an unattached runner from Ottawa, was third in 13.92 seconds.
FINISHING KICK
· Ottawa brothers Jacob and Zakary Kaiser have been named to the Canadian BMX cycling team to race in the first four World Cup meets in Sarrians, France, and Papendal, The Netherlands.
· Royal Ottawa Golf Club’s James Newton placed third in the men’s pro division at the 98th Spring Open golf tournament at the Beaconsfield Golf Club, after shooting a three-under-par 68. Newton attended Kent State University the past three years and played for the Golden Flashes.
· Souleyman Ben Yaacoub of the National Capital Wrestling Club won three matches to reach the final of the U17 men’s 60-kilogram division at the Canadian Wrestling Championships in Montreal. He then loss in the gold medal match as well as the true second-place bout which can impact selections for international competitions. National Capital’s Dexter Bates placed fourth in the U20 men’s 65 kg event.
Martin Cleary has written about amateur sports for over 52 years. A past Canadian sportswriter of the year and Ottawa Sports Awards Lifetime Achievement in Sport Media honouree, Martin retired from full-time work at the Ottawa Citizen in 2012, but continued to write a bi-weekly “High Achievers” column for the Citizen/Sun.
When the pandemic struck, Martin created the High Achievers “Stay-Safe Edition” to provide some positive news during tough times, via his Twitter account at first and now here at OttawaSportsPages.ca.
Martin can be reached by e-mail at martincleary51@gmail.com and on Twitter @martincleary.