Crashing sucks, and can sometimes seriously derail riders’ seasons. We’ve seen this with so many riders — including recently, cycling’s royal couple, Urška Žigart and Tadej Pogačar. Pogi, of course, crashed out of La Vuelta a España, ending his season, and a bid to defend his crown (again) at the Montreal road worlds later this month. He was still planning on going, however, to support his Slovenian bros (SloBros™) like veteran pro Primož Roglič, who proved he still had it with a second at the Vuelta.
Similarly for Žigart, she crashed over the weekend and reinjured her jaw, which means her season is also over.
Gee-West’s update post-crash
Thankfully, that’s not the case for Osgoode, Ont.’s Gee-West. He crashed with around 45 km to go on Sunday’s Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal.
It sounds like he wasn’t hurt too badly. Canadian Cycling Magazine spoke with Lidl-Trek, and a spokesperson said he was able to ride back to the hotel. On Monday, further assessments sound like he will be just fine.
The 2026 road worlds
That’s good, because he’s got a big race coming up at the end of the month, the 2026 UCI road worlds in Montreal. He’ll be joined by a few of his former teammates — Pier-André Côté, Hugo Houle, and Michael Woods. Nickolas Zukowsky and Michael Leonard will be there too. Woods, Zuke and Leonard were all in action in Montreal, with Zukowsky at the front seemingly forever riding tempo. Leonard made it into a late break with Gee-West’s teammate Juan Ayuso too. Woodsy was top finished, coming in a very respectable 18th, for only his third road race this year.
Another rider headed to the worlds — who is the elite national champ, but is still an under-23 rider — is Jérôme Gauthier. The 22-year-old rider from Project Echelon Racing made the early break and was at the front for 81 km. It was great to see the maple leaf mixing it up with the WorldTour pros.
The road worlds begin on Sept. 20 and go until Sept. 27. Canadian Cycling Magazine will be there too, so be sure to check our site and social media for all kinds of content.