"Still to early" for Derek Gee to target Tour de France GC says Israel - Premier Tech DS despite Dauphine heroics
Cycling
Having initially come to the attention of the cycling world with his breakthrough performance at the 2023 Giro d'Italia, Derek Gee took the next big step in his development at the 2024 Criterium du Dauphine, winning a stage and claiming a very impressive podium finish.
Understandably, Israel - Premier Tech are delighted by the performances of their Canadian starlet, albeit a little stunned at Gee's level. "This was a surprise for the outside world and for us too," Israel - Premier Tech sports director Rik Verbrugghe says in conversation with Sporza. "Derek had just been on an altitude training camp for 3 weeks and we immediately saw that he would be fine. We had come here for a place in the top 10. But the fact that he could also ride up with guys like Primoz Roglic and Matteo Jorgenson, the best climbers, is also nice to see for us. A pleasant surprise."
Having initially been a track rider, Gee as mentioned burst onto the road racing scene at the 2023 Giro d'Italia, finishing second in the points classification, the King of the Mountains classification and taking second on four separate stages, impressing with his recovery day after day. "We realized with the team that he should be able to develop a career as a tour rider," recalls Verbrugghe. "However, he could also do well in the classics. He was still doing well in Paris-Roubaix, until he had a puncture in the Bos. He can actually do a little bit of everything. We immediately committed him until 2028."
"We are building with Derek. He has already lost 4 kilograms since that Giro, but there is still a bit to lose. He is made for this work," continues Verbrugghe. The upcoming Tour de France may be a little too soon for the 26-year-old Canadian however. "I think that after this performance he is assured of a selection. But I think it is still too early to go for a classification now, rather for stage wins."
Donot target GC. Stage hunting is good enough. Otherwise it will be a miserable experience like Skjelmose 2023. Next year target Giro or Vuelta GC to check if doable top5/10 or podium
Agree. With a bit of luck a stage win is totally achievable with his recent form. That’ll be a much more satisfying goal than fighting for place 9 on the GC
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- Raymond Poulidor, Alfredo Binda.... where do we stop. If you want to retitle it is Primoz Roglic the bestr rider never to win the tour in the last ten or 20 years then that might be betterslappers6631-03-2025
- Let me help you. Alfredo BindaUpHill31-03-2025
- He'll certainly last it and prob ride his own race, at the front 😁
leedorney31-03-2025 - Gaio Primus Caesar Roglus, Rome is waiting for you, Imperator :-)).
maria2024202431-03-2025 - And he probably wasn’t even at the limit ;-) Have to wonder how much Mads could catch up if he’d tune his physique to be as sharp as MVDPs’Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- Respect for giving Van Eetvelt credit there.Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- He’s already a star for me for HAVING complained about it, the recent trend having been, let them then try to take advantage by making them sign NDAs ;-)Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- Agreed, but if it was a radio thing then all the riders should have the same story and it would be easy to call anyone out. Kind of surprised this isn’t cleared up half officially afterwards, just like the Alaphilippe divorce, seems like once something spreads on the net it kind of gets accepted that everyone wants to have their own truth so no-one bothers to contest anything that’s verifiable anymore, we all just move on.Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- maybe. what makes that a LITTLE fishy is that they suddenly hit the gas and started hammering it. even mathieu, who i’ve never heard complain about ANYTHING (other than teenage girls waking him up and being spit on by belgians) was pretty hacked off about the race tactics after the split. i think he was upset for what his teammates had to do, not for the fact he ended up isolated as a result.OCexile31-03-2025
- It seems that in E3 it wasn’t legit to criticise teams that « took advantage » because there was no radio communication about the incident so they couldn’t know to slow down. Only one source so far but should be quite easy to verify.Mistermaumau31-03-2025