After Derek Gee’s breakout ride in Italy, how should teams race him?
The Giro d’Italia has opened his eyes to what lays ahead
The Giro d’Italia ended on Sunday, but for Derek Gee, it marked a new beginning in his pro career. On the final day of the Italian stage race, he even joked that he didn’t want his parents coming to watch as he wasn’t sure he’d make it to Rome. Well, he did, and in style. (Thankfully, his Israel – Premier Tech team surprised Mr. and Mrs. Gee, as well as his girlfriend Ruby West, and flew them into Rome for the last stage.)
Derek Gee’s team gave him the best present for the final stage of the Giro
The 25-year-old finished his first Grand Tour, and given his focus on the track just a few years ago, it makes for some interesting discussion on what he is capable of going forward. He’s 1.89 m and 76 kg, which isn’t ideal for climbing. But he did hold his own on some of the lumpier stages against some very strong riders. He also has a good kick. Racing on the track has given him a sharp jump, which he showed in the intermediate sprints. Gee is also a strong time trialist. Although the national champion didn’t have any massive results in the chronos in Italy (55th, 45th, and 31st), he does know a thing or two about going fast alone. In 2022, Gee impressed Israel – Premier Tech with a fifth in the 15.8 km TT at Gran Camiño. That result secured his long-term contract with the team, which began in 2023.
The future is now…or is it?
So what kind of rider is Gee? Or rather, what kind of rider can Gee become?
“Now that I’ve seen what Derek did, I totally think he could be a GC guy,” Kevin Field, former directeur sportif, says. “His rider type is a Bradley Wiggins or Geraint Thomas, a pursuit/TT guy who can lean out enough to climb. I think on Stage 19, he really validated that he can climb.”
Field thinks that those three weeks have done more than just bolster his confidence. “His entire Giro validated he has repeatability and workload capacity. So now the only thing to see is if he can TT with the best in the WorldTour,” he adds. “And once you start doing that…it pulls you this way or that way.”
Patience with his trajectory
Former WorldTour rider Michael Barry, like so many others, was impressed with Gee’s ride but warns that slotting him into one form of racing too early may not be wise yet.
“As Derek is still young and only just developing as a rider, it’s hard to know his true potential. I would be apprehensive to categorize him as a certain type of rider as he’s only just begun his career on the road,” Barry, who rode the Tour de France in 2010, says. “He obviously has the physical abilities to perform well in one-day Classics and one-week stage races based on his power and ability to recover over several days.”
Field also thinks that Gee would fare well in some of the Classics. “Races like Amstel, Liège, Flèche, Lombardy, would suit him,” he says. “The kind of rider that has the ability to cross categories, similar to Philippe Gilbert.”
Targets and goals going forward
What is next for Gee also will depend on the people around him and what they decide he is best suited for. Tailoring a program and focusing on bigger goals will be something that will involve a larger discussion, given his recent racing in Italy.
“His performances through the Giro would have given him a lot of confidence moving forward, and his teammates/team management will also have more confidence in his abilities. It takes time to develop both physical and mental/tactical strengths to win consistently at the highest level. With patience and the right support within the team, I think he can do it,” Barry says. “He’s only been racing in the WorldTour for a few months, and in the pro peloton for two years, so he’s still new to a lot of the races and life of a pro cyclist—with experience he will grow exponentially as a cyclist.”
As Barry mentioned, Gee is new to the WorldTour and still quite young, so there are multiple possibilities. Field believes there are four options: a Grand Tour rider, a one-week stage racer, a classics rider in some of the lumpier races like Amstel or Lombardy, or a time trial specialist.
Derek Gee on what may be next in his cycling career
Gee himself has admitted the Giro has got him thinking about his future. “I mean, I think for sure, the confidence that I can perform day in and day out in a Grand Tour is there, which would be good for the GC,” he says. “At the same time, I think the physical demands of maybe sitting in the peloton and then doing a massive effort of the final climb would differ from just sitting off the front for, you know, 100 and 80 kilometres at really high power.”
It’s only been a few days since the Giro, so of course, the IPT rider has only begun to start thinking about it. “If I really wanted to tackle GC, I think I’d have to change a lot from a physiology perspective, probably lose a few kilos, and yeah, just change the kind of racing that I do for sure,” he adds. When asked if that interests him, he does say that idea does.
“But I just love riding in breakaways,” Gee laughs. “It’s where I can get results and where I have the chance to win a stage.”
With files from Matthew Pioro
