Canadian cyclist Derek Gee-West 2nd in brutal Giro d'Italia queen stage

Ottawa cyclist Derek Gee-West finished runner-up in the toughest stage of the Giro d'Italia on Friday.

Gee-West finished second behind American rider Sepp Kuss on the so-called queen stage, while Kuss's Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Jonas Vingegaard remained firmly in the overall lead heading into the final two days.

Giulio Ciccone, Gee-West's Lidl-Trek teammate, was third, 36 seconds behind Kuss and just ahead of Felix Gall and Vingegaard.

"To be honest, I thought we had the stage when Giulio went on the descent, and there was a bit of disorder behind," Gee-West said from Alleghe, Italy. "Hats off to Sepp, he pulled in the valley, I was sitting in the wheels, and he still rode away from me."

Gee-West moved up to fifth place in the general classification, six minutes 31 seconds behind Vingegaard, with his fifth career second-place stage finish at the Giro. He was runner-up in four stages in 2023.

The stage had more than 5,000 meters of climbing across six tough ascents through the stunning Dolomites.

That included the mighty Passo Giau, the highest point of this year's race and so brutal it was ranked "hors categorie" -- defying categorization.

Kuss, who had been part of the day's breakaway, crossed the line at the summit finish of Alleghe to complete the Grand Tour trilogy, having won stages in the Tour de France and Spanish Vuelta, where he also finished first overall in 2023.

"To be honest, [the stage win] was never the primary goal," Kuss said. "The main challenge was to win the pink jersey for Jonas and so far, it's looking good. When they told me the other night that I had the chance to go in the break I knew I had to seize the opportunity ... it's something I always dreamt of."

Ciccone attacked on the