May 20/23 15:48 pm - Another Podium for Derek Gee at the Giro

Posted by Editoress on 05/20/23
 

Once again, Canada's Derek Gee (Israel Premier Tech) has finished on the podium at the Giro d'Italia, with his third second place result on Saturday. Nico Denz (Bora-Hansgrohe) won his second stage in two days. The stage saw a change in the General Classification, with race leader Geraint Thomas' Ineos Grenadier squad allowing a large group to ride away to the finish by over 21 minutes, putting Bruno Armirail (Groupama - FDJ) into the Pink Jersey. Gee's performance moved him up to second in the Points standings and 21st on GC.

Riders were hit with wet conditions once again, with at times very heavy rain, on the 194 kilometre stage from Sierre to Cassano Magnago. A group of 19 broke clear first, with others coming across a few at a time, including Gee and his team mates Simon Clarke and Stephen Williams.

Attacks began happening in the front group with 60 kilometres to go, and four riders broke free at 50 kilometres to go - Laurens Rex (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty), Stefano Oldani (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Toms Skujins (Trek-Segafredo) and Davide Ballerini (Soudal-QuickStep). They built a lead to 50 seconds with 20 kilometres to go, but were starting to struggle as Gee, Denz and others worked together to bring them back.

Heading into the final kilometre, the remaining three leaders (Rex had been dropped) had ten seconds on Gee, Denz, Rex, Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) and Marius Mayrhofer (Team DSM), but the run up to the finish was slightly uphill and the leaders were struggling. The chasers caught the leaders with less than 500 metres to go, and Denz powered to the front. Gee came up to challenge him, but fell short by less than a wheel length, with Bettiol taking third.

"Simon [Clarke] knows the roads really well," explained Gee, "he lives around here. His experience is invaluable, and to have three in the group, and the work out of Stevie was unbelievable. He did a great job, and I'm just sorry I couldn't finish it off."

Sam Bewley, Directeur Sportif for Israel Premier Tech, was effusive in his praise of Gee after the stage, "I feel sick actually, I feel heartbroken for Derek. I think everybody watching would agree that Derek deserves to win a stage here. He's been so close ... and on hard stages as well; he was fourth on a mountain stage [Stage 13], so he's shown he can do everything.

"He works hard, he's polite, he's respectful of everybody. I'm elated for him again to show how good he is and how strong he is. He deserves it [a stage win], and I think everyone in the peloton probably agrees he deserves it. He'll keep trying, we know that for sure.

"He's one hell of a bike rider, he just wants to get out there and race his bike ... we've had really bad conditions, some of the worst conditions I've seen in a Grand Tour and it doesn't faze him, he just gets out there and races his bike. He's a great guy to have on the team, and a great guy to have in the peloton, and deserves respect and admiration from everybody."