Osgoode, Ont.’s Derek Gee will be doing his second Grand Tour of the year soon, the Vuelta a España. He finished a solid fourth place at the Giro d’Italia in May — a race where, two years earlier, he made himself a bit of a star.

He was an outsider then — now things are much different. In 2023 he had four second places on stages, along with two fourths in his Grand Tour debut. He finished second overall in the KOM, second overall in the sprints, second overall in the intermediate sprints, and 22nd overall. After that breakout year, he and his team set their sights higher — as in GC. (No, we don’t Derek GeeCee here, thankyouverymuch.)

In 2024 he won the G.C. at O Gran Camiño. He also won a stage at the Critérium du Dauphiné, as well as finishing third overall. In 2025, he finished fourth at Tirreno–Adriatico after fighting back from a tough first day. And of course, in July 2024, he showed the world he can keep with the best. That was when he finished ninth at the Tour and in the mix in some of the toughest mountain stages.

Now, what about the Vuelta? He definitely enters it as one of the favourites — for the podium, or even more.

The 2025 Vuelta a España runs Aug. 23–Sept. 14. It starts in Turin, Italy, and passes through France and Andorra before entering Spain.

The 21-stage, 3,150-km route features key climbs such as L’Angliru and Bola del Mundo. There’s also a team time trial in Figueres, a summit finish in Olot, and a mountain stage ending at Cerler ski station.

Gee is definitely one of the favourites for the overall — but just like the Giro, he faces tough competition. EF Education’s Richard Carapaz — who had to settle for third in Italy — will be on the hunt for a red jersey. There’s also the very, very strong Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team), who finished fifth at this year’s Tour, impressing many. Thomas Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) will be there, looking to make up for a somewhat disappearing Giro.

Despite the seemingly unbeatable world champion Tadej Pogačar skipping the race — instead wanting to ramp up to his Worlds defence, including racing Les Grands Prix Cyclistes de Montréal et Québec — there is one other big rider: the one and only Jonas Vingegaard (Visma – Lease a Bike), looking to take his first Grand Tour since his 2023 Tour de France.

Can Gee take the maillot rojo? It’s possible. The first hurdle is the 20 km TTT. Can his Israel–Premier Tech keep up with the others?

There’s also a stage 18 individual TT — 26 km with a bit of a hill. Gee may have preferred something longer and hillier — but he’s shown he is a good chrono rider. Vingegaard had an uncharacteristically “bad” TT at the Tour, where he lost a minute to Pogačar. All it takes is one not-great day at a Grand Tour to put you behind. Gee knows this — at the first stage of the Giro this year, he lost almost a minute and was forced to claw time back.

As far as the climbs — riders like Vingegaard definitely have more of a punch when it’s steep — although Pogačar always seemed to get the best of him at the Tour. But Gee’s style is to ignore the sharp attacks and diesel his way back. We’ve seen this at the Giro and the Tour.

It could work again at the Vuelta. Although the full IPT squad hasn’t been announced, it sounds like American Matthew Riccitello will be there — he can serve as a good lieutenant to Gee on the climbs.

You can watch the race on FloBikes.com — and you betcha, Canadian Cycling Magazine will have full reports after.