May 18/26 16:00 pm - Derek Gee-West Interview at the End of Week 1 of the Giro

Posted by Editoress on 05/18/26
 

After the first week of the Giro d'Italia, and despite a nasty crash in Stage 2, Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) is feeling comfortable and confident with his position in the standings. Gee-West, who finished fourth overall last year, is currently 14th overall, 6:15 out of the lead, but only 2:13 out of the top-5. He has also performed well in the two mountain stages - eighth on Stage 6 and sixth on Stage 9; the latter only 46 seconds behind stage winner Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike). We spoke with Derek on Monday's rest day, before the Stage 10 time trial on Tuesday.

Canadian Cyclist:  The first few days didn't look like they went so well.

Derek Gee-West:  Yes, it was a tricky start; it was quite the crash on stage 2. Since then I've recovered, so hopefully the body holds up from here.

CC: There's always crashes, especially early in a race, but if I remember correctly, last year there was a big crash you got caught in or caught behind as well in the opening stages.

DGW:  Yeah, last in Napoli, it was a little bit further [into the race]; I made it to Stage 6 and this year was Stage 2. This one, I wasn't quite back in the peloton when they stopped the neutral, so there was a little bit of time lost that day. Hopefully, I can make it back up.

CC: From the photos, you looked a little banged up. How are you doing?

DGW:  Good. I'm still quite bruised, but a lot of the road rash has healed up and I think I got away quite lucky when you see how some of the guys ended up after that one.

CC: Yes, there were some big names that dropped out.

DGW:  We were going quite fast and into the guardrail ... it was not a pretty crash.

CC: Your prep obviously wasn't as good as previous years, because you didn't race for the second half of last year, and then you got sick earlier this season. So how did you feel coming into this race - did you feel confident, or were you a little concerned about how your form was?

DGW:  Definitely there were less checkmarks along the way, but I was quite happy with where the form was. Obviously, you don't have as much confidence because you don't have the results to back it up, but I am still quite happy with where the legs were, going in, and so far, besides the crash, it's trending in the right direction. I seem to be getting better day by day. I'm actually in rather similar position to where I was on the rest day last year. Hopefully it keeps going in that direction.

CC: Last time we spoke, you had signed with Lidl-Trek but hadn't done any races with them - you had just joined the team and had been to training camps, but hadn't raced with them. So what's it been like on this new team?

DGW:  It's been awesome. The atmosphere is really good, the staff, the riders, everyone. It's also really interesting to get a glimpse of being on a team with a full sprint train; usually those are days where I can maybe relax and sit back. The sprint train that is here with Jonny [Milan], they've got more stressful days than anyone, so it's definitely been interesting to watch.

CC: The team's already had some good results, with Guilio Ciccone in Pink after Stage 4 for a day.

DGW:  For sure, but we're still itching for more. Obviously, when you are a sprinter you only want to win, so seeing that up close, plus the frustrations of the close results and the poor stage finish in Napoli [Stage 6] when it was wet cobbles and just begging for a crash [in the final kilometre] ... I think Cicco going into the Pink was pretty cool and he's got great legs, so he's going to keep going for stages. Hopefully, I keep chipping away at GC and Jonny can bring home some sprints, so hopefully we are looking at a good two weeks coming up.

CC: On the two climbing finishes - Stages 7 and 9 - you've shown your form is there, and only 46 seconds back from Jonas on Stage 9.

DGW:  For sure it is good to know that the legs are there and hopefully the TT tomorrow suits me. It's flatter, so I should have a bit of an advantage over some of the lighter guys. I think from here on out, the biggest differences will be made on attrition. Besides [Felix] Gall and Jonas [Vingegaard] it's been a mix of who's been up there on the climbing days, so I think it's going to be an attritional race and who has the least amount of bad days.

CC: What are your thoughts about tomorrow's TT course?

DGW:  It's super straightforward. It's long, so it's just going to be who can pace it the best, because blowing up on that would be tough. Long TT and dead flat, so not too technical and it's just going to be a pure time trial of seeing who can stay the most aero and push the most watts.

CC: You and I have spoken in the past about how in the mountains you can hang on to a certain point, but when the climbers really accelerate, you have to plug along at your own pace. We've talked about how you have been working to try and hang on longer ... do you feel after the first couple of mountain stages that you have improved in this area?

DGW:  On Blockhaus [Stage 6] I definitely paced myself really well to knock out the accelerations, which is always how I've climbed. But I was pretty happy with yesterday [Stage 9] because I thought it was one that wouldn't really suit me, being so short and steep; it was really only the last three K that was full gas and 10%, but I was quite happy with the legs there. It was only a nine minute effort, so I'm definitely happy with the steps I've taken there. But I'm certainly still not the punchiest rider.

CC: We talked before in different races where you've identified stages that you could maybe do something; are there any of those you can talk about for this race?

DGW:  Well, not specific to me or how I plan on riding them, but this week coming up, I think the one in Aosta [Stage 14] and Stage 16 are going to be the big ones. They are huge mountain days, and I'm sure other teams will make them full gas, so for sure we'll start to see some really big differences, and the GC will start to shape up really clearly after those ones.

CC: Last year year you were fourth on GC, and obviously you are always going to want to improve. Is there a goal, for this year, or are you not looking that far ahead?

DGW:  I don't put a number on it, especially with the prep this year. If I was flying all the way into the Giro I think maybe I could put a number on it, but it doesn't really change how you race. You go out there, and the goal is only to move up in the GC as much as you can. So, it's certainly not something that I'm saying, 'Oh, I'll be unhappy with this', or, 'I'll only be happy with this'. It's very much about who's at the Giro changes things, the parcours changes things ... bike racing is so dynamic that I think I'll only know what result I will be happy with at the end of the bike race.

CC: Well, thank you. I won't say enjoy your TT, because if you are doing it right, it won't be enjoyable.

DGW:  [Laughs] I understand the sentiment you mean!