May 5/25 12:26 pm - Derek Gee Leads Israel-Premier Tech at Giro - Interview

Posted by Editoress on 05/5/25
 

Derek Gee's first Grand Tour experience was at the Giro d'Italia two years, when he was the revelation of the race - in the break almost every stage, and finishing with four second place stage results, second overall in the Points and Mountain competitions, 22nd on GC and winner of the Combativity award for the whole race.

Last year, he proved that this was not a fluke, winning a stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné and finishing third overall, and then ninth overall at the Tour de France, as well as third in the ninth stage and sixth in the final stage time trial.

This year, the focus is fully on the Giro again, with three stage races comprising his preparation. He began with the O Gran Camino, where he won his first UCI stage race overall, with a stage win and second place, as well as taking the Mountain jersey and finishing third in the Points competition. From there he went to Tirreno-Adriatico, finishing fourth overall, with two sixth place stage results. And finally, last week, he competed at the Tour of the Alps, finishing third overall and fifth in the Points classification, with second and third place stage results.

We spoke with Derek at his home base in Girona, Spain, where he is recovering before heading to Albania for the opening stage on Friday.

3rd at 2025 Tour de Alps

Giro Prep

Celebrating win at O Gran Camino

Canadian Cyclist:  The last time you went to the Giro, you were the revelation of the race - I don't think you or the team had known what to expect. This time, it's different - you are coming in with a number of races under your belt. How has that changed your perspective going into this Giro?

Derek Gee:  Yes, it's definitely given me a little more vision and clarity of what the goals are, what the ambition are going into the race. We knew what to do for the build, and there was a lot more intentional building towards the Giro this time. I would also say that it is definitely a more stressful way to go into the race, when you have clear cut goals and ambitions. It's definitely in some ways much better, and in some ways less free.

CC: It seems to me that your build up was a little different this year; was it tailored specifically towards this race?

DG:  100%. Looking back on the season so far, it's been a massive success as a standalone. The targets for all three races we hit, and I'm really, really happy with that. But, in the end, the calendar was built as trying to get the best possible run at the Giro; to time it to see if we could get the legs going as good as they can for the Giro. Although I have good results this year and I'm really happy with it, it's all been intentionally structured towards the Giro.

CC:  So what are the goals for the Giro? In the Tour last year, even though you were doing extremely well in the GC, when we spoke through the race, you kept saying that the main goal for the team was stages. Is it similar for the Giro, or has that changed now?

DG: I think this year the whole goal has been to try and build a GC project, and see how that can go at the Giro. At the Tour [last year] we kind of switched focusses partway through to the GC. So we want to see, with a full build up, how can the GC go, with that focus right from Day 1. I think that there is no clearcut answer of what the goal is, or what I'd be happy with coming out of the other side - top-5 or top-10 ... I haven't put a number on it. I think it's just to go through the motions with the group I've been racing with all year. Try and get the processes right, and just see what the number is on the other side.

CC: You mentioned that it's a little more restrictive because of your role - last time, you were able to sneak away in breakaways, and it didn't bother anybody in the GC contenders. I think this year it's probably going to be a little different?

DG: For sure! Racing GC is more stressful, it's probably not as fun as stage hunting, but I think at the end it is more rewarding; especially since last time I didn't win any of them! The focus will always shift to stages if something happens; if I've fallen out of the GC, if I'm in a crash or get sick and lose a bunch of time. It's bike racing and those things are always possible. So that could always be the case for the second half of the race, but the goal on paper is to race from the GC group every day, and just see how far the legs will take me.

CC: When we've spoken before at races, you've pointed to specific stages that might suit you - any in this race that stand out?

DG: I've gone and reconned the gravel stage [Stage 9, May 18th]; last year in the Tour I managed to gain some time on the gravel stage. But, it's gravel - this is more of a Strade Bianchi type, so it's going to be chaos; you flat at the wrong moment and you could lose minutes. Or you attack at the right moment and you could gain a lot of time. It just adds so much more chance than a normal stage, so we'll be trying to minimize that as much as possible. We went and reconned it, just to get a look. That will be a very, very interesting stage, but I'm not going to say it suits me or doesn't suit me, but it will make for very good bike racing, I think.

CC:  You are still relatively new to WorldTour racing - this is just Season 3 for you. So it's been a pretty rapid rise to me interviewing you about your GC chances in the Giro!

DG:  It's been a bit of a whirlwind, that's for sure! None of this was even a possibility before last summer, so that's definitely changed a lot. We've invested a lot over the winter in this GC project, and it's been really nice to see that pay off so far this season. But it is a project, and at some point it's not going to go well, hopefully that's not the Giro, but these things are always a bit of a rollercoaster. The start of my first GC year has been really good, and hopefully we can make that last a bit longer.

CC:  You said earlier that you 'hit the targets' for the three races so far; I'm assuming that the targets weren't necessarily wins in all those races?

DG: Exactly. The goal with O Camino was to win it. The goal with Tirreno was a top-5. The goal with Tour of the Alps was just come out of the race better than you went into it, because it didn't matter where that was in the results, it was just to build the legs into the Tour [of the Alps] after an altitude camp. The first two days I really did not have good legs, but they came around, so that was goal achieved.

CC: You've got about a week before the Giro starts, so what is left in the final prep?

DG:  Just a little bit of speed work in Girona; I've had a nice rest after Alps. Not much really, I'm just putting the finishing touches on the legs and hoping they're good to go.

CC: Last time at the Giro, it was like, 'what the hell, Derek's in the break again!'. Hopefully we'll get some excitement like that this year.

DG:  Fingers crossed!