LES ESTABLES 鈥� Canadian cyclist Derek Gee won the third stage of the Crit茅rium du Dauphin茅 on Tuesday and will start Wednesday's individual time trial wearing the leader's yellow-and-blue jersey.
The 26-year-old from Ottawa was helped by Israel-Premier Tech teammate Krists Neilands in the final stretch of the 181.7-kilometre stage.
鈥淚t鈥檚 unbelievably special to win here." said Gee. "I鈥檝e been waiting for a win in Europe. I鈥檝e come second several times. It was nice to finish it off. A massive part of it was Krists Neilands attacking with one kilometre to go and I was in a good position and it was strung out.
"I wasn鈥檛 planning on going there but as soon as he came back, there was a bit of a lull and I had to take advantage of it.鈥�
The race, which runs through June 9 in the Dauphin茅 region of southeastern France, is considered a key warm-up events for the Tour de France.
Neilands led the way to the finish line with Gee making a countermove seconds after his teammate was caught. France's Romain Gregoire stayed in the hunt only to see Gee sprint past him 150 meters from the finish line where fianc茅e Ruby was watching
鈥淭he goal coming into the race wasn鈥檛 necessarily for me to win a stage," Gee explained. "We were going for Dylan (Teuns) most of the day, it was a good finish for him, but he made the call on the final climb saying 鈥楤oys if you have the legs, go for it鈥� and we took it up. I鈥檓 really happy to come away with it.鈥�
Prior to Tuesday, Gee鈥檚 two previous wins on the road were in the Canadian Time Trial Championships in 2022 and 2023.
He looks forward to being decked in yellow and blue for the 34.4-kilometre time trail between Saint-Germain-Laval and Neulise.
鈥淲earing the yellow jersey is pretty special,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 going to be quite a feeling I think.鈥�
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, rewarded for his breakout performance at the Giro d鈥橧talia.
Competing in his first Grand Tour race, Gee finishing second four times and fourth twice in last year's Giro. He placed 22nd in the final general classification standings and was runner-up to Italy鈥檚 Jonathan Milan in the points race and France鈥檚 Thibaut Pinot in the King of the Mountains standings.
The Canadian was also honoured as the Giro鈥檚 鈥渟uper combative rider.鈥�
Canadian-Israeli entrepreneur Sylvan Adams is one of Israel-Premier Tech's owners. Canadians Jean Belanger, president and CEO of Premier Tech based in Rivi猫re-du-Loup. Que., and Kevin Ham are also partners in the team.
Canadians Paulo Saldanha, the team's performance director, and Steve Bauer, a former star rider who now serves as sport director, are key members of the staff,
Israel-Premier Tech is also home to Canadian riders Michael Woods, Hugo Houle, Guillaume Boivin. and Riley Pickrell.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2024
The Canadian Press
