December 21/18 8:20 am - CC Awards - Focus on the Men Nominees

Posted by Editoress on 12/21/18
 

It has been less than 48 hours since we opened voting for the 2018 Canadian Cyclist of the Year awards, and already hundreds of ballots have been cast. From your votes we will select the top Canadian Cyclists of 2018.

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Today, we want to introduce our nominees for the top Male rider of the year. This year, we have three nominees - two from the Road and one from the Track. One athlete is the defending award winner - Michael Woods - while the other two are appearing on the ballot for the first time - Derek Gee and James Piccoli. All three have had extremely strong seasons; possibly the best of their careers.

Ottawa's Derek Gee is still in the Under-23 category on the road, but on the track has worked his way up from being a member of the NextGen endurance squad to a position in the Elite program. He has become one of the anchors of the Team Pursuit squad, and with them has won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games, the National title, as well as a third and a fifth in World Cup competition. In 2018 he was also one of Canada's top performers in the Omnium, winning the National title, the Portugal Internacional and two top-10 results in first four rounds of the World Cup. He is also the National champion in the Individual Pursuit on the track.

Derek Gee

James Piccoli (Elevate-KHS) became the first Canadian rider in a decade to win Canada's premier UCI road race - the Tour de Beauce. His victory there included a stage win on the Quebec City circuit. However, Beauce wasn't his only strong performance - he finished seventh overall in the Colorado Classic, sixth overall in the Tour of the Gila, and recently finished his season off with two stage wins at New Zealand's Tour of Southland.

James Piccoli

Michael Woods had every Canadian cycling fan glued to their computer screens at the end of September when he finished third in the Elite men's road race at the World Championships in Austria. Riding for the WorldTour squad EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale, Woods also took his first ever Grand Tour stage win at the Vuelta a Espana on the mountainous Stage 17, to finish ninth overall in the KoM competition. At the Giro d'Italia, he was second in a stage and 19th overall, and he finished second in the one day Spring Classic, Liege-Bastogne-Liege. He is the top Canadian in the UCI men's world rankings, in 37th place.

Mike Woods

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