Canadian rider Derek Gee finished fifth in Stage 7 of the Critérium du Dauphiné 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.
“I’m satisfied with today,” 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.
“It’s 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.”
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’s Jonathan Milan in the points race and France’s Thibaut Pinot in the King of the Mountains standings.
The Canadian was also honoured as the Giro’s “super combative rider.”