Derek Gee crowned Canadian road race champion
We may only be halfway through 2025 but it has already been a stellar season for Derek Gee.
A stage win and overall victory at O Gran Camiño, third overall at Tour of the Alps, a career-best Grand Tour GC result with fourth overall at the Giro d’Italia and now, for the first time in his career, Gee has been crowned the Canadian road race champion.
Having twice won the time trial championship in 2022 and 2023, Gee will now have the honor of wearing the Canadian jersey for the next year, inheriting the maple leaf from teammate Mike Woods.
“I’m unbelievably excited to wear the maple leaf for the next 12 months,” says Gee. “That’s something I have always envied when I have seen it on other people, so I’m very excited to have that chance now.”
After driving the chase behind the first breakaway of the day, Gee made a move in the early stages of the 199-kilometer race, joining teammates Hugo Houle, Riley Pickrell, and Luke Valenti in a six-man group that would prove decisive.
With strong IPT representation up front, Gee and Houle played off each other with multiple attacks, before Gee made the winning move ahead of the fifth and final lap and quickly extended his lead to 1:30 as he made his way back to the finish in St-Georges.
Behind, Houle managed to distance Michael Leonard and crossed the line in second place to make it a back-to-back one-two for IPT after Woods and Pier-André Côté achieved the same feat last year.
“It was a super hard race in super miserable conditions but we had a good team and we played the numbers,” Gee adds. “We ended up getting in a breakaway with Hugo and myself, and Luke Valenti and we raced really well together. Michael Leonard from Ineos was in great form so we had to use the numbers to our advantage and I ended up going solo with about 70 kilometers to go. I managed to bring it home and Hugo made it a one-two so that was pretty special.”
