'A little bit of purgatory' – Derek Gee counting on tough third week to climb up Giro d'Italia GC

The Giro d'Italia may be 12 stages down, but the real shape of the race is still yet to be revealed, with the hardest GC stages all disproportionately packed into the final week.

As a result, the first half of the race has seen some GC riders shine and dominate the narrative, but others stay somewhat out of the spotlight as they await their chances in the high mountains.

One of those riders who has somewhat under the radar so far this race is Israel-Premier Tech's Derek Gee. The Canadian, who is targetting the overall after a breakthrough Giro two years ago and ninth in the Tour de France last year, currently sits 12th after some time losses in the first week, so he's looking forward to a GC shake-out.

"It's been a mixed bag," was how Gee summarised his race so far to Cyclingnews on Thursday.

"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. 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."

The gaps between the top 10 still remain relatively small, and in 12th Gee is only 2:45 down on the leader Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), margins that could become fairly insignificant given the long climbs to come next week.

There has been a good chunk of climbing so far, but the finishes have been on the punchy side, so the riders who have done well in the first half – Del Toro, Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) – could well give way to a different style of climbs in the final week.

"I definitely don't see myself as that punchy a rider," Gee explained. "I think even on the Tagliacozzo finish, 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. Then on San Pellegrino I felt really good on the longer climb. So I hope [the harder climbs] suit me."

The hope, of course, is not just that the climbs suit him, but suit him enough to leapfrog some of his overall competitors.

"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, so I'm really hoping that on the longer climbs in the third week, I can make a little bit of movement upwards."

Even in the mountains, though, it's not an easy task to simply take time on your own accord, especially with the level of competition here at the Giro, so instead Gee is hoping the next tougher stages will really begin to sort the wheat from the chaff, and then the attacks and tactics can begin.

"I think the biggest thing is just that the race is going to blow up at some point in the third week, and it will just come down to who has legs and who doesn't," he said. "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, but for now I think it's just waiting and hoping the legs are there when it counts."

So far this season, Gee's legs have been there when it counts – a victory at O Gran Camiño, fourth in Tirreno-Adriatico, third in the Tour of the Alps – but he was clear to point out that early results were not a guarantee of performance in a three-week stage race.

"It's gone really well so far, 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, 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 as to whether the first bit of a full GC season was a success or not," he said.

"There's a little bit of a stress there and a little bit of pressure, but it's just a different challenge."

Much of the stress and contention so far in this race has focused on teams and team dynamics, whether it's UAE's leadership conundrum, or Primož Roglič's lack of climbing support at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. 

Whilst Gee might not be on a super team like one of those outfits, he's not worried about that being a particular drawback on the hardest stages. 

"Obviously on a summit finish it's a lot different. I think it is definitely important, just for little things – getting into position, wasting less energy that way, getting bottles," he explained. "That stuff is super important on the longer days, but when it comes down to the final climb, then it's just legs."

Even if Gee is new to the leadership role, and being that protected rider having to save energy, the experience at Israel-Premier Tech has also proved a huge asset to the Canadian.

"I'm in a really good position where 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, to have Jakob [Fuglsang] and Simon [Clarke] and those guys, 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 and my job is to go as hard as I can on the last climb."

With some tough last climbs still to go, all that remains is to see how Gee can deliver and where his legs will take him come Rome.

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