Three North Americans stormed the top 10 of the Giro d’Italia, with Canada’s Derek Gee and the USA’s Brandon McNulty backing up Isaac del Toro’s breakthrough ride with quiet consistency and grand tour pedigree.
Gee, riding in just his third full WorldTour season, capped a transformative season with a career-best fourth overall in Rome — good for Israel-Premier Tech’s best grand tour result ever — and confirmed his evolution from breakaway artist to genuine GC threat.
“I didn’t want to put a number on it at the start,” Gee said. “But in my head, it was top-5. I’m very, very happy to have been able to achieve that.”
Also read: All the North Americans racing the Giro d’Italia
Seven North Americans started the 2025 Giro, and all seven finished. Beyond Del Toro’s breakout performance, this Giro saw Gee confirm his GC racing potential.
The Canadian rode on the edges of the pink jersey battle — he made headlines when he scratched the head of the Giro “fox” on a climbing stage — and tapped away at his diesel engine to finish within the top 5 overall.
McNulty, riding in support of UAE Emirates-XRG’s GC captains, also rode to a grand tour personal best with ninth despite a nasty crash on the Siena gravel stage that left him with a bloody knee and elbow.
His gritty performance and consistency are reminders that he could become one of America’s best grand tour podium contenders if he committed to chasing grand tour GC ambitions and if he can find space on UAE’s crowded roster to see more leadership opportunities.
Others — from Larry Warbasse to Luke Lamperti — were on the attack, riding in support, and pushing toward Rome to finish the 2025 season’s first grand tour off with a bang. Here’s how they fared:
Project GC Gee validated with podium close call
The 26-year-old lost early time in the chaotic opening stage in Albania and was hit by an ill-timed puncture on the gravel of stage 9, but refused to give up. As the race tilted uphill in the second half, Gee’s diesel engine clicked into gear.
By the final mountain weekend, he was dreaming a podium spot might be possible, and dug deep to finish just outside the top-3 of Simon Yates, Del Toro, and Richard Carapaz.
“I had the fourth-best legs,” Gee said.
“Project GC Gee” took shape after his 2023 Giro breakout that included four second places. On the heels of third place and a stage win at the 2024 Critérium du Dauphiné and a top-10 in his Tour de France debut last summer, the team knew it had a diamond in the rough.
Sport director Sam Bewley said the Giro’s fourth-place result validated the decisive to put Gee on a pathway toward the GC.
“I think in 2023 when Derek was doing all those breakaways, that was kind of the moment we started to think, ‘Could we turn him into a GC rider?’,” Bewley said. “Because of the way he was climbing and obviously how strong he was, we made it a bit of a long-term project to see how things would go.”
I still can’t believe Derek Gee did this while Ineos was pushing full-gas uphill LOL. He just couldn’t resist the natural urge. #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/QGFGVr8SNs
— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) May 25, 2025
Over the past year, the team pivoted toward “Project GC Gee,” with the 2025 Giro set as his first major test.
Internally, the team had set an ambitious but realistic goal of a top 5, so Gee’s final result in fourth confirmed that there’s more in the tank.
“I don’t think two years ago I ever could have imagined this,” Gee said. “And, to be honest, it just makes me a lot hungrier for more, because I know there are still areas we can improve. We’ve only been doing this GC project for a year now, so I’m really looking forward to more.”
Gee — a relatively latecomer to road racing after riding the boards in team pursuit with Team Canada — now heads into the rest of 2025 as Canada’s brightest GC hope and a legitimate podium candidate for future grand tour. A tilt toward the Vuelta a España later this summer is in the cards.
Ryder Hesjedal remains the only Canadian to win a grand tour, victorious in the wild edition in 2012. Gee is hoping a podium comes next before dreaming even bigger.
McNulty: The ‘Quiet American’ hits personal milestone
Behind the fireworks from Del Toro, another UAE Emirates-XRG rider quietly notched his best grand tour result.
McNulty finished ninth overall, bettering his 15th place from the 2020 Giro and 19th at the 2022 Tour de France.
Long the steady hand within UAE’s train, McNulty, 27, was often the last man standing across this Giro for his team’s GC ambitions before riding his own tempo to the line.
He’s won stages at both the Giro in 2023 and the Vuelta and wore red in Spain last year, but this year’s Giro marked a new high-water mark for McNulty’s consistency over three weeks.
Brandon McNulty fights on after going down during the brutal Giro d’Italia gravel stage. #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/AubwJ4eykt
— NBC Sports Cycling (@NBCSCycling) May 18, 2025
While not expected to race the Tour de France — where Tadej Pogačar will lead a vengeance mission against Visma-Lease a Bike — McNulty remains a core piece in UAE’s deep GC bench.
He’s also a pillar of a resurgent American generation that includes Matteo Jorgenson, Sepp Kuss, and Magnus Sheffield.
How the North Americans fared
Isaac del Toro (UAE Emirates-XRG) led for 11 stages, won a stage and the best young rider’s jersey, and finished second overall in his Giro debut.
Brandon McNulty (UAE Emirates-XRG) rode a career-best ninth overall, including a Giro-best fifth in stage 19.
Derek Gee (Israel Premier Tech) finished a career-best fourth overall, and punched four times into the top 10, with a Giro-best fifth in stage 16.
Larry Warbasse (Tudor Pro Cycling) rode into the winning breakaway in stage 18 to kick to 10th.
Nick Zukowsky (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) crashed out of his grand tour debut in week 1 with a broken clavicle, while compatriot Hugo Houle helped IPT teammate Gee push high on the GC, and rode into breaks on stage 15 and 17.
Luke Lamperti rode his second Giro with Soudal Quick-Step and helped Paul Magnier in the sprints. The Californian rode into a break in stage 9 and sprinted to a career-best grand tour fifth in Sunday’s finale in Rome.