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The Canadian Cycling Magazine Podcast is back with two feature interviews. At the start of 2025, both Derek Gee-West and Michael Woods were teammates on Israel-Premier Tech. But by the end of August, Gee-West wasn’t riding because of a contract dispute with the team. Woods, who was suffering from illness and a serious hernia, announced his retirement. Now, at the start of the 2026, both riders have big ambitions for the season ahead.
Gee-West spoke from the recent Lidl-Trek team camp. He chatted about coming on the new team and the plans for the first part of the season, which will culminate in his return to the Giro d’Italia, where he finished in fourth place overall this past year. A hot topic of discussion is Gee-West’s kit. He’s the current national road champion. That distinction gets him a Maple Leaf at his navel. Gee-West talks about how the current kit came to be and why what you see now isn’t the end of the story.
Woods’s pro road career didn’t conclude the way he had wanted it to. In his interview, the Ottawa rider gets into the details of the latter part of his final season and reveals why things played out as they did.
Today, Woods is back on the bike, and skis, and is in the pool, all in pursuit of a year filled with a variety of endurance challenges. It’s part research project, part midlife crisis. Find out more about Woods’s plans that could even include the Winter Olympics (in 2030).
In this conversation, the ever-witty Woods has some good turns of phrase. Here are some, out of context, to whet your appetite: “If I get those lips on my lips, it’s over for me,” “I had a funeral without a casket,” and “I was getting my ass kicked by 12-year-old girls.”
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…