July 24/24 12:46 pm - Derek Gee Interview - Post-Tour & Pre-Olympics

Posted by Editoress on 07/24/24
 

Canada's Derek Gee (Israel Premier Tech) finished his first Tour de France last Sunday, and had an incredibly impressive debut, finishing ninth overall with a third on Stage 9. Derek is only the third Canadian ever to finish in the top-10, joining Steve Bauer (4th, 1988) and Ryder Hesjedal (5th, 2011). He is currently preparing for the Time Trial at the Olympics this coming Saturday (and the Road Race the following Saturday), but took a few minutes to speak with us.

Canadian Cyclist: Top-10 at the Tour in your first attempt, congratulations. Based on our conversation before the Tour that was not on your radar.

Derek Gee: To finish top-10 is pretty special. I had Steve [Bauer, team directeur sportif] with me as the director in the car, and he finished tenth in his first Tour, so it was funny to beat that Canadian record of best first appearance at the Tour by one spot. It's an incredibly special feeling to have the third best Canadian result, and hopefully we can improve in coming years.

CC: Stage 20 [second to last stage] was very tough, and it looked like you might have been struggling to maintain your spot. Were you worried?

DG: There wasn't anything specific about Stage 20, it was just a brutal stage. Matteo [Jorgenson, Visma Lease-a-Bike, who was one spot ahead of Gee on the GC] was riding incredibly well, and I knew that it would be hard in the [final stage] TT, that it would be hard to get eighth back, so I was just worried about keeping the top-10 at that point. Obviously, I wanted it and I was fighting for it, and I think I put in a good TT, but I'm just happy to come away with a top-10.

CC: As you mentioned, you were sixth in that final time trial, which is an excellent performance at the end of the Tour. Did you think you had that ride in you, and how much was the GC on your mind during the ride?

DG: I definitely was thinking a lot about the GC in the final time trial; I wasn't thinking about the stage result at all. That maybe helped, I just went out there full gas throughout it, and when I crossed the line and heard I had the fastest time [with eight riders to go], I was over the moon. That's a pretty special result in itself.

CC: It's maybe a little early to be talking about this, but you are starting to look like a GC rider for the big races!

DG: I think we have a lot of analysis to do about my future as a GC rider, but I think that seems like the direction to go. It's certainly where I've found the most success so far.

CC: Now you are at the Olympics - you've done the track before [Tokyo], but this is going to be on the road.

DG: Yes, now I'm at the Olympics, and it's always special to represent your country, especially at the Olympics. I'm pretty tired after the Tour, but we'll see how the legs are. Hopefully Mike's flying [Mike Woods, will do the road race] and we can give it a good crack at the road race.