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Deep breath: Can Derek Gee still maybe, maybe take the points jersey at the Giro d’Italia?

Canadian stuns again with another podium

Photo by: Sirotti
May 26, 2023
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Updated May 26

Canada’s Derek Gee took another incredible result on Friday. He placed second place in the Queen stage, just missing out on the win. His current points tally is 160 points, to Jonathan Milan
(Bahrain – Victorious), who has 215. On Saturday, it’s a super-tough time trial with a brutal summit finish. Gee is a great time triallist, but surely he’s going to be tired tomorrow. But knowing this 25-year-old from Ottawa, he’s still going to give it. If he can get a good result tomorrow…and then, *gulp* win in Rome…and Milan scores no points?

Results powered by FirstCycling.com

Another day, another incredible ride by Israel – Premier Tech rider Derek Gee. On Friday, he rode a strong race to finish 4th in a tough, shortened stage. The Grand Tour rookie held his own with veteran French rider Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), among others, and continues to impress cycling fans around the world.

The Escape Artist: Derek Gee comes within centimetres of winning first Giro stage

This, of course, comes after two previous second places. All of these results mean that he is suddenly second overall behind Jonathan Milan of Bahrain – Victorious, who is wearing the maglia ciclamino for leading the points competition. Yes, of course, Milan is an accomplished sprinter and has taken the bulk of his points from the fast finishes. But still, Gee now has 111 points to Milan’s 164.

Six stages remain at the Giro d’Italia

There’s still a long week of racing. The next few days are again hilly, followed by some flat stages and a couple more mountain days. But then a final time trial–just under 19km, in which Gee excels. The track star is very quick in the time trials, so if he’s feeling good, he could snag a decent result there. Usually, in the final time trials, only those who are vying for the overall will go full gas, but Gee could give it his all to get some more points. He was 50th in the opening time trial and 44th in the second. But again, only the GC riders and those who want to do well in the final time trial will be going hard. The rest of the tired legs in the bunch just want to make it to Rome the next day. Now, that being said, Milan is pretty quick in the time trials as well, but he may want to save his legs for the prestigious final stage.

Lots of points still up for grabs

The breakdown of points depends on the stage, in order to favour the sprinters. The first level, the flatter races, gives the top 20 riders points starting at 50 down to 1. The next tier, the top 15 get points from 25 to one, and finally, the third-level races give riders 15 to 1. The time trials, for example, fall into the latter category, awarding 15 points. There are also intermediate sprints to make things interesting. Gee went and snagged some of those on Saturday, which resulted in his total take being 41 points, bolstering the ones he got from his second place.

Is it possible that Gee can get in another early break on some of the lumpier stages where Milan is unable to? Maybe. The GC riders may let a break get ahead if the finish isn’t going to decide the race. But there are some pretty tough stages coming up that will definitely be a battle royale between Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) and Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma). Gee did ride own pretty well for a Giro rookie with Pinot, but he, of course, probably can’t keep up with the big guns in a battle to the finish up the toughest of long climbs. (I mean, I think? But who knows anymore?)

Can Israel – Premier Tech compete with the sprinter’s teams?

Gee is a fast man on the track, and as he showed today, he has a hell of a kick. Sprinting in a small break isn’t the same as a bunch sprint, but if IPT dedicates itself to a proper train, could he shake it up with the big boys? He took 18th place on Stage 5 in a mass gallop, but surely his confidence has grown since then.

At this point, anything seems to be fair game for the 25-year-old.

And from what we’ve seen in the past week and a half, Gee will fight all the way until Rome.