TROYES, France — Canadian Derek Gee, in his first Tour de France, finished third after a hard day of racing through the dust of gravel roads on the race’s ninth stage.
France’s Anthony Turgis won the 199-kilometre stage, which featured 32 kilometres of demanding gravel road, after a hectic day of racing marked by relentless attacks.
Behind the breakaway, race leader Tadej Pogacar tried to set the race on fire as the fight between the main contenders raged but could not gain time on his main rivals for the yellow jersey.
Gee was part of an initial 10-man breakaway and was among a group of six riders sprinting for the finish line.
“It was a real day out today,” the 26-year-old from Ottawa said. “Of course, I would have liked to finish a couple of places higher up, but we raced on the front foot all day and I think we can be happy with that. Hopefully, the win will come soon.”
Turgis, who rides for the Total Energies team, posted the biggest win of his career in a sprint, edging Tom Pidcock and Gee in the Champagne city of Troyes. It was the third stage win by a French rider since the race started last week.
“It’s incredible, it was a long time since I did not win,” said Turgis. “It was a long day, the team put its trust in me by giving me carte blanche today. I dedicate this win to all the people who trusted me.”
There was no major change in the overall standings, with Pogacar keeping his 33-second lead over Remco Evenepoel. Two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard remained in third place, 1:15 off the pace.
Gee, riding for the Israel-Premier Tech team, has now moved up to ninth place overall.
“I’m happy with how I have raced these first nine stages and I’m looking forward to the rest of the race. But I’m also really looking forward to the rest day (Monday),” he said.
Fellow Canadians Hugo Houle and Guillaume Boivin, also with Israel-Premier Tech stand 56th and 133rd, respectively.
The tough stage took riders through 14 sections of so-called white roads — including six in the stage finale — that have become a trademark of Italy’s Strade Bianche.
Pogacar loves riding on this difficult terrain, having won the Strade Bianche twice, and proved it with a series of sharp attacks that put his rivals on the back foot. Primoz Roglic suffered but managed to bridge gaps every time he got dropped and kept his fourth place overall, 1:36 behind Pogacar.
Vingegaard adopted a conservative strategy and did not collaborate with Pogacar and Evenepoel when they had the possibility to break away from other top contenders.
“For sure I will remember,” Pogacar said. “But everybody have their own race, I have nothing against it. I like to race with the heart and that was one of those days.”
Asked whether he thought Vingegaard and his team were afraid of him, Pogacar replied: “I think they are scared of me and they just follow me.”
Evenepoel was also critical of Vingegaard’s strategy.
“It’s a bit of a shame that Jonas did not take turns with us, because otherwise the race would have been over, we could have taken three or four minutes,” Evenepoel said.
The peloton will enjoy its first rest day Monday.
The Tour paid tribute to Norwegian rider Andre Drege, who died Saturday after crashing in a downhill at the Tour of Austria. To honour his memory, cyclists from the Norwegian team Uno-X Mobility arrived at the start line five minutes ahead of the start, with the rest of the peloton staying behind during a moment of applause.
There was a flurry of attacks from the start. A group of 10 riders including Turgis and Gee managed to escape before the first sector of gravel and were joined by a handful of counter-attackers.
Behind, a traffic jam of riders formed at the foot of a very steep segment of white roads, with many competitors forced to dismount and to run up the climb. Vingegaard and Pogacar avoided the jam but Roglic got dropped, lagging about 30 seconds behind at one point before he bridged the gap.
Vingegaard later suffered a mechanical problem and teammate Jan Tratnik gave his leader his bike. Pogacar then sped up the pace, followed by Evenepoel. The pair could not break away from the pack, though, and Vingegaard’s Visma Lease A Bike teammates moved to the front to add to the frenetic pace.
The battle between the main contenders intensified when Evenepoel attacked with 78 kilometres left in the Côte de Chacenay. Pogacar and Vingegaard did not panic and managed to chase him down. Roglic, however, could not follow. Still on his teammate’s bike, Vingegaard did not take his turn in the lead as the trio joined the main break.
With Vingegaard refusing to collaborate, they finally slowed down and Evenepoel looked dejected by his rival’s attitude.
“It’s their tactics, there is nothing we can do,” Evenepoel added.
Pogacar attacked again with about 20 kilometres left as Evenepoel and Roglic could not follow. Vingegaard, with the help of teammate Matteo Jorgenson, stayed in his wake. Again, Vingeaard did not take his turn and Pogacar stopped his effort.
Pogacar tried to go away one last time with eight kilometres left, but once again Vingegaard responded.
Gee is coming off a third-place finish in the Criterium du Dauphine, an eight-day stage race considered a key warm-up for the Tour. It marked his first WorldTour general classification podium.
Gee was promoted to Israel-Premier Tech’s WorldTour squad from its academy in May 2022. He signed a new long-term deal in June 2023 following his breakout performance at the Giro d’Italia.
Competing in his first Grand Tour race, Gee finished second four times and fourth twice in the 2023 Giro. 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.”
Sunday was a good day for Canadians on the Israel-Premier Tech team.
Canadian Riley Pickrell celebrated his his first professional victory, winning stage 2a of the Sibiu Tour in Romania .
The 22-year-old from Victoria outsprinted several rivals in the uphill, cobbled approach to the finish line. Riders competed in a 3.3-kilometre individual time trial later in the day.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
