The future of Canadian cycling looks bright at Israel – Premier Tech with Canadian up-and-comer Derek Gee stepping up to the WorldTour on a three-year deal which will see Gee race in IPT colors until 2025.
Gee demonstrated his potential with a sensational performance in the final time trial at Gran Camiño in February, where the 24-year-old stormed home to clock the fifth-fastest time against a competitive WorldTour-level field.
The Ottawan joined Israel Cycling Academy this year and raced with the WorldTeam at Gran Camiño and Milano – Torino, gaining experience from some of IPT’s most-experienced riders.
“We are really happy to welcome Derek Gee to Israel – Premier Tech on a three-year deal, which is a sign of our confidence in him and his abilities. He has an impressive background as a track rider which has given him a great base to build on as a road race. Derek’s standout performance of the year came in the time trial at Gran Camiño where it looked like he would be challenging for his first win and from this, we knew we couldn’t miss the opportunity to sign him to IPT,” said General Manager Kjell Carlström.
“Obviously, Canada is an important country for our team and we are proud to be developing the next generation of Canadian cyclists, and look forward to seeing Derek race with us for the next three years.”
The 13-time Canadian national track champion is still finding his place on the road but has his sights set on racing against the clock.
“My experiences with Israel Cycling Academy and Israel – Premier Tech so far have been amazing. I know that getting to race with the WorldTour team multiple times already and the things I’ve learned doing that will be hugely beneficial when I take the step up next year. The ITT at Gran Camiño gave me a lot of confidence moving forward. I still have a lot to work on in the time trial but knowing that getting up there and fighting for wins in high level races is something that’s attainable motivates me hugely,” said Gee.
“I’m still trying to find where my strengths are on the road, and I’ve been given a huge variety of races this year from the team to help me figure that out. Hopefully I can keep improving my time trial and over the next three years get some big results on the TT bike.”
Gee is the second ICA rider to make the step up to IPT next year, alongside Italian Marco Frigo.
