Home favourite Gee-West has to skip World Championship time trial; road race in doubt

A World Championship on home soil is not something many riders get to experience. Especially when that rider is Canadian. For Derek Gee-West, this is a golden opportunity to showcase his talents in front of his home crowd on the biggest stage. But the Canadian rider from Lidl-Trek has had to swallow a major setback that will consequences for his World Championships.

Gee-West prepared for the World Championships in his home country, racing in the GP Québec and the GP Montréal. In the former race, he finished 31st, but in Montréal—on the very roads where the World Championships will take place—he crashed hard. He was involved in a crash, along with Bart Lemmen (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Thymen Arnesman (Netcompany INEOS), among others.

He was left in considerable pain and gave up. There were immediate concerns about the Lidl-Trek rider, who was set to compete in the World Championships as his country’s team leader. An initial update, gathered by Canadian Cycling Magazine, seemed positive. His team confirmed that he was able to ride back to the hotel and that he would most likely be okay.

But an update on Instagram reveals that the injury is more serious than expected. “A few minor setbacks heading into the road race,” Gee-West began his post. “Unfortunately, my ribs didn’t come out of the crash at the Montreal GP in one piece. So I won’t be competing in the individual time trial or the Mixed Relay.” Without saying so explicitly, Gee-West seems to be referring to broken ribs.

And so he’s skipping all the races leading up to the road race. “I’ll do everything I can to be in the best possible shape when I line up at the start of the road race this coming Sunday in front of my home crowd. I can’t wait to see the Canadians shine in the rest of the events!” Whether he’ll actually be able to line up at the start of the road race remains to be seen.