ALBERTVILLE 鈥� Canadian rider Derek Gee finished fifth in Stage 7 of the Crit茅rium du Dauphin茅 on Saturday to move into third place overall with one stage remaining in the Tour de France warm-up race.
Slovenia's Primoz Roglic, a favourite for the Tour, won the stage and leads the overall standings by 62 seconds over American Matteo Jorgenson. Gee is another 11 seconds back, some 43 seconds ahead of Russian Aleksandr Vlasov.
Gee credited his Israel-Premier Tech teammates for his success in the 155.3-kilometre stage.
鈥淚鈥檓 satisfied with today,鈥� said the 26-year-old from Ottawa. "It was hard. It was a really hard profile but the guys were amazing. They just looked after me all day and put me in the best position possible.
鈥淚t鈥檚 indescribable how valuable that level of experience is in the team. Even the little tips they give me, aside from what they do for me on the road, they are pretty special.鈥�
Gee won Stage 3 on Tuesday, earning the right to wear the yellow leader's jersey in the general classification. He dropped to fourth overall after finishing sixth in Wednesday's time trial.
Stage 5 Thursday was called prematurely after a mass crash. Gee climbed into fourth place overall Friday.
Gee turned heads last year in his first Grand Tour race, finishing second four times and fourth twice in the Giro d'Italia. 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�
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2024.
The Canadian Press
