"I'm on the back foot already, but it's not alarm bells" - Derek Gee not giving up on Maglia Rosa dream despite early Giro d'Italia time loss

Derek Gee is the big, general classification hope of the Israel - Premier Tech team at the 2025 Giro d'Italia. Despite the race only being two days in though, it's already been a tricky start for the Canadian with time loss on both of the two opening stages.

"I think it was the same thing that happened at the Tour of the Alps, it was just a rough opener," explained Gee, one of the stars of the 2023 Giro d'Italia in his post-stage interview following the stage 2 individual time trial on Saturday. "My heart rate was high, and then the engine blew, so it just takes a couple of days for me to get into it, I think."

Given Gee has already proven he can perform deep into the third week of a Grand Tour, the early time loss, whilst by no means ideal, might not be the killer blow to his general classification hopes that it would be for some others. Within the team and within the rider himself, the confidence and the optimism is still there, that's for sure.

"I'm on the back foot already, but there are so many hard days to come. In the end, obviously, you're always upset to lose a minute where a big group comes to the finish across the line, but hopefully by the end of the three weeks, [the gap] won't be the same," says Gee in conclusion. "It's not like alarm bells. The legs feel fine, they felt good in the TT today, and we'll see how tomorrow (Stage 3 on Sunday ed.) goes - hopefully it's not a repeat of yesterday, and we just keep going up."

Heading into stage 3, Gee is now sitting 36th in the GC, already 1:25 down on the Maglia Rosa wearing pre-race favourite - Primoz Roglic.