One of the main hopes for a home victory at the upcoming Road World Championships, Derek Gee-West has been ruled out of Sunday’s time trial, with his road race participation uncertain.
Gee-West crashed out of last weekend’s GP Cycliste de Montréal, going down with around 40km to go and riding back to the Lidl-Trek tea hotel having suffered injuries to his ribs.
"Small bump on the road to home Worlds Montreal 2026," Gee-West wrote in an Instagram post.
"Unfortunately, the ribs didn’t make it out of the crash on Sunday in one piece, so I won’t be lining up for the Individual Time Trial or the Mixed Team Relay.
"I’ll do everything I can to line up next Sunday for the road race in the best shape possible in front of the home crowd, and can’t wait to see the Canadians rip it up across the rest of the events!"
The current Canadian time trial champion Gee-West was the best of the GC riders in the time trial at this year’s Giro d’Italia, where he was also fifth on GC, and would have been hoping for at least a top 10 finish in Montreal on Sunday’s World Championships race. He would also have been an asset in Tuesday’s Mixed Team Relay time trial, but has also withdrawn from that event.
Cycling Canada are yet to announce a replacement for the 29-year-old in either event; the country’s only representative in Sunday’s TT will be 2025 national champion, Michael Leonard.
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Gee-West is still slated to start as part of Canada’s six-man team in the road race on Sunday, September 27, but his comments must surely cast at least some doubt on his participation in a race where again he would have started as an outside hope for a medal.
While Gee-West is a triple Canadian TT champion, he has never performed brilliantly in the World Championships, with 17th place in 2023 his best result.
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A recent addition to the Cyclingnews staff, Owen Rogers is an experienced journalist, working as a freelancer covering the sport for various magazines and websites for more than 10 years.
Initially concentrating mainly on the women's sport, he has covered hundreds of race days on the ground and interviewed some of the sport's biggest names.
Living near Cambridge in the UK, when he's not working you'll find him either riding his bike or playing drums.
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