Ottawa's Derek Gee cycles to Grand Tour-best 4th in Giro d'Italia

The Associated Press

· Posted: Jun 01, 2025 2:40 PM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

British rider Simon Yates cruised to wide triumph successful the Giro d'Italia connected Sunday, yet winning the contention that had eluded him truthful often.

After attacking connected the gravel-road ascent to instrumentality the pinkish jersey successful the penultimate signifier connected Saturday, Yates finished astir 4 minutes up of runner-up Isaac Del Toro, the 21-year-old Mexican who wore pinkish for 10 days earlier Yates took control.

It's the 2nd Grand Tour rubric for Yates aft helium won the Spanish Vuelta successful 2018.

Ottawa's Derek Gee, the pb rider for the Israel-Premier Tech team, was 4th wide to gain his champion effect astatine a Grand Tour. He was ninth successful past year's Tour de France.

Gee entered this year's competition aft becoming an wide multi-race signifier champion for the archetypal clip successful his career.

He captured the O Gran Camino roadworthy contention successful Spain connected March 2 for the archetypal wide signifier contention triumph of his career, a 35-second borderline implicit Italy's Davide Piganzoli. Gee finished with 3 top-10 signifier results, including a first, 2nd and 10th. At the seven-stage Tirreno-Adriatico, helium was 4th wide with 2 sixth-place results.

The 27-year-old past led a contention astatine the Criterium du Dauphine past June successful France, spending 1 time successful the yellowish jersey coincided with an idiosyncratic clip trial. He finished 3rd overall.

At the Tour de France, Gee was ninth with 4 top-10 showings, including a 3rd successful Stage 9.

He went connected to decorativeness 44th successful past summer's Olympic roadworthy contention successful Paris and was the apical Canadian successful the idiosyncratic clip trial, placing 20th.

Tough luck successful erstwhile Giro races

Post-Olympics, Gee was 22nd successful the idiosyncratic clip proceedings astatine the roadworthy satellite championships successful Zurich. He did not decorativeness the roadworthy race.

Meanwhile, Yates wore pinkish for 13 days during the 2018 Giro earlier cracking connected 1 of the last climbs. He besides had to retreat from the Italian contention successful 2020 and 2022 due to the fact that of coronavirus and a genu injury, respectively.

"I'm inactive successful daze of what I've done," Yates said from Rome. "It's thing that I've been moving toward for a agelong time."

Yates, who rides for Team Visma Lease a Bike, finished 3 minutes 56 seconds up of Del Toro and 4:43 up of Richard Carapaz, the 2019 champion from Ecuador. Gee, who was 11th successful Sunday's last stage, was 6:23 down Yates.

Dutch rider Olav Kooij, Yates' teammate, won the last signifier successful a sprint finish.

During the non-competitive neutralized play conscionable earlier the mostly ceremonial last signifier really began, the peloton passed done the Vatican and was blessed by Pope Leo XIV.

The 143-kilometre last signifier concluded with a circuit of 8 laps done downtown Rome and finished adjacent to the Circus Maximus.

At property 32, Yates already acknowledged this triumph is "the peak" of his career. His champion decorativeness successful the Tour de France was 4th successful 2023.