Canadian cyclist Derek Gee, who teams up with Hugo Houle and Guillaume Boivin at Israel – Premier Tech, finished third in a demanding ninth stage of the Tour de France on Sunday.
A member of the day’s breakaway that broke away in the opening kilometres of the race, Gee was among the first to accelerate in the final kilometre. He was surprised by Frenchman Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) at the finish line. Britain’s Thomas Pidcock (INEOS Grenadiers) finished second.
“Derek was in all the attempts for a breakaway at the start and he finally managed to take the right one. I tried too, I went out for a while in a group and I thought it was going well, but we were caught. It started again afterwards, I hesitated a little and I missed the right wagon,” Hugo Houle mentioned to Sportcom.
The majority of the Israel – Premier Tech team remained in the peloton despite a few breaks, in this stage which featured several climbs and gravel sections.
Denmark’s Jakob Fuglsang moved up in the chase group to finish 14th.e rank (+1 minute and 17 seconds). German Pascal Ackermann, fourth in the eighth stage on Saturday, was in the next group and finished 16the.
“Derek can be proud of himself, he had a superb stage and made a great move in the general classification. He was very strong!” stressed Hugo Houle, 43e of this hilly stage where “positioning was very important”. Guillaume Boivin, who had a mechanical problem at the start of the race, finished 123e.
You always have to stay focused, it’s hard physically and mentally, there’s more stress than a normal day!
Hugo Houle
Derek Gee’s performance saw him climb to 9the overall ranking, 4 minutes and 2 seconds behind the leader.
The supporters were treated to quite a spectacle on Sunday as they followed the favourites. There were numerous attacks between Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel over the 199 kilometres of this stage. In the end, they all finished together 1 minute 46 seconds behind the winner. Pogacar thus retained the yellow jersey and his 33-second lead over Evenepoel in the cumulative time.
PHOTO JEROME DELAY, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tadej Pogacar
Cyclists will have their first day of rest on Monday.
The women’s Giro d’Italia begins
Two Quebec women took part in the 35e Women’s Giro d’Italia on Sunday. Magdeleine Vallières-Mill and Clara Émond, who compete with the EF Education-Cannondale team, ranked 48th respectivelye (+1 minute 25 seconds) and 117e (+2 minutes 20 seconds) of this 15.7-kilometre time trial, held in Brescia. The Italian Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) won. The second stage will take place over 110 kilometres on Monday, between Sirmione and Volta Mantovana.