Derek Gee bides his time as Giro mountains loom: "It’s just waiting and hoping the legs are there"

Stage 13 of the Giro d’Italia comes today with the race still yet to truly reach the mountains, and few riders are more eager for the terrain to change than Derek Gee. After an up and down opening 11 days, the Canadian climber sits 12th on general classification, a position that leaves him unsatisfied but cautiously optimistic.

A breakout star at the 2023 Giro and ninth overall at the Tour de France last year, Gee has arrived in Italy this May with genuine GC ambitions. Yet so far, those ambitions have been held in check by a route that hasn’t quite suited his strengths.

“I was very happy with the legs yesterday [stage 11], not happy at all with the legs in the start of the race, so it's definitely been an interesting first 11 days,” he told Cycling News. “No super decisive summit finishes or anything like that, so it's a little bit of purgatory waiting for the really, really hard days to see where everyone is."

It’s not just about the lack of big climbs, but the type of climbing too. Gee admits that punchier finishes, such as the one to Tagliacozzo, aren’t where he excels. “I definitely don't see myself as that punchy a rider. I felt super comfortable, and then they opened it up with a km to go and I just had to kind of stay where I was,” he explained. “Then on San Pellegrino I felt really good on the longer climb. So I hope [the harder climbs] suit me.”

With his GC hopes still intact but not yet ignited, Gee is looking to the third week for the race, and his performance, to truly take shape. “I'm not super happy with where I'm sitting on GC right now, like if the race ended tomorrow I wouldn't be stoked on twelfth,” he admitted. “So I'm really hoping that on the longer climbs in the third week, I can make a little bit of movement upwards.”

That said, moving up in a GC as tightly contested and stacked as this Giro’s won’t come easy. Gee is under no illusions that form alone is enough. “The biggest thing is just that the race is going to blow up at some point in the third week,” he said. “It will just come down to who has legs and who doesn't. After that, we might see some insane racing, if the first big stage on stage 16 really turns the GC one way or the other.”

For Gee, the long game is everything. His early-season form has been solid. and encouraging, but the Giro is the centrepiece of his year. “Up to the Giro it went really well, I'm really happy with all the results. But of course, it's all building towards this,” he said. “So as much I like to look at those results and be happy with them, they're all kind of dependent on how this Giro goes… There’s a little bit of stress there and a little bit of pressure, but it's just a different challenge.”

In the end, he knows that the decisive moments will come down to pure climbing strength. “Obviously on a summit finish it's a lot different,” he said. “When it comes down to the final climb, then it's just legs.”

Fortunately, Gee doesn’t have to shoulder the tactical burden alone. Backed by a seasoned support crew, he’s in trusted hands. “A lot of the guys that are helping me are so experienced that they can make the shots for me,” he said.

“They’ve obviously raced for some of the biggest names in GC… so a lot of times they'll just say ‘hey, this is what's best, do this,’ and it’s just easy to go along with it. My job is to go as hard as I can on the last climb.”