May 26/25 15:04 pm - Gee Up to Fifth at the End of Week 2 at Giro

Posted by Editoress on 05/26/25
 

Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) had a strong second week of the Giro d'Italia, shrugging off the troubles in the first week that saw him in 20th place overall after Stage 9, to move up to fifth overall by the finish of Stage 15.

The second week opened with a 32.3 kilometre individual time trial, where Gee outperformed all the GC favourites to finish 12th, one minute down on stage winner Daan Hoole (Lidl-Trek). This moved him up to 12th, 2:37 behind pink-jersey holder Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates).

The next stage was the first real climbing stage, and Derek was ninth, finishing with all the top contenders. Stage 12 was a sprinter's stage with no changes, but Stage 13 saw him move up a further two spot, into the top-10. Stage 14 saw a lone breakaway win, but, in the overall battle, Derek made an important move into the chase group, while some of his rivals - Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) - did not. This moved him up to sixth overall.

Finally, on Sunday's stage (15), Derek again finished with the GC group, taking sixth on the stage and moving up one more spot to fifth, 2:54 out of the lead, and 1:28 out of the top-3.

Tuesday's stage (16) should have a significant impact on the standings, with four categorized climbs, including finishing on top of the San Giacomo (Cat. 1) climb.

Derek spoke after Sunday's stage, "I'm really, really happy with how [my legs] have built throughout the race. I would still say that they are untested on what we are going into in Week 3; it's definitely going to be a completely different style of racing than what we've been doing. But I think I can take a lot of confidence out of my legs in the last week.

"I felt really good [in Stage 15], I felt like I could react on the climbs when I needed to. It was always great to have guys [teammates] around me, guys in the break that were coming back. And with Marco [Frigo] I was never isolated, so it was a great day.

"I think it's going to be a different story on the really long climbs, that's when it will be less tactical and just pure legs. But on the little 'tastes' that we've had, I've been really happy with how the body has reacted.

"Obviously I want to show my legs and see where they are compared to all the other guys, but at the same time, I know it is also a case of that there are probably guys behind me in the GC who are in the same situation of wanting to move up in this third week. So it will be a very interesting third week, that's for sure."

Looking at Tuesday's stage, Derek commented, "when you throw in a rest day there's always a little uncertainty around how the body will react. But, I think it'll be nice to answer a lot of questions that a lot of people have had in this race about where everybody stands. It will be the first big answer.

"Mentally knowing the legs are there ... it's tough to start a race and be on the back foot immediately. So, it's nice to see that the legs have come around; it's a much better place to be mentally, entering the third week.

"If it had been more spread out and I was fifth after a few super hard mountain top finishes then I could say, 'Okay, I want to try and defend this, and finish the Giro in the top five', but I think at this point ... guys ahead of me could crack, guys behind me could fly. It's way too early to tell not only where I'll end up, but where I'll be happy with."