"A guy like Primoz Roglic, you can't count him out" - Derek Gee refuses to rule out Giro d'Italia comeback

Primoz Roglic's hopes of winning a second Maglia Rosa at the 2025 Giro d'Italia have been left in tatters after stage 15. Cracking badly, the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe leader is now clinging onto a place in the top-10 of the general classification, nearly four minutes down on race leader Isaac del Toro.

Being distanced on the final climb of the day, Roglic at one point was even struggling to hold the wheel of his teammates, who had dropped back to help the Slovenian limit his losses. By the time he crossed the finishing line on stage 15, Roglic had shipped exactly one and a half minutes to the Maglia Rosa group, leaving him, as mentioned in 10th on GC at 3:53 down.

Speaking to TNT Sports in a post-stage interview however, Derek Gee, who himself looked very impressive on stage 15, rising to 5th in the general classification, refused to completely rule out the 2023 Giro d'Italia winner from producing an incredible comeback in the remaining stages. "A guy like Roglic, you can't count him out," explained the Canadian leader of Israel - Premier Tech. "Especially with a third week like that."

Rather than Gee's own team, or the team of the race leader Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates - XRG), it was the INEOS Grenadiers that were the main instigators in putting the pressure on Roglic and ultimately dropping him. "INEOS have been racing like that all race, it definitely makes for some exciting racing but as a rider it hurts!" Gee laughs in reflection. "You see them lining up and you go 'ah here we go again'!"

With a rest day now upcoming on Monday, Gee, Roglic and the rest of the general classification hopefuls now have a day to take stock, refresh and maybe even refocus their goals for the remainder of the race.