Following his revelatory attacking displays at the recent Giro d'Italia, Canadian neo-pro Derek Gee has signed a contract extension with Israel-Premier Tech through the end of the 2028 season.
The 25-year-old made his Grand Tour debut in Italy last month and was one of the stars of the Giro, making the breakaway seven times and taking four second places and two fourth places along the way.
He finished second in the mountain, points, intermediate sprint, and breakaway classification, also winning the prize for the race's most combative rider in Rome. His Israel-Premier Tech team have acted quickly to hand him one of the longest contracts in cycling, with only UAE Team Emirates talent Juan Ayuso currently on a deal to the end of the 2028 season.
"It was an incredibly easy decision for me to sign this new contract; I know another five years is a long time, especially in the cycling world, but this team feels like home," Gee said.
"The relationship I have with the riders, staff and management, and the direction I can see the team going from a performance standpoint, is something I'm incredibly keen to be a part of for the long term. It also gives me the stability to take a step back and try new directions as a rider that may not have even been something I was considering before the Giro.
"The Giro was about as far from what I expected as it gets going in, but it's been sinking in the last week, the rides that I had there. I'm really happy to be able to show why the team had confidence in me with that calendar and put that on paper with those results."
Gee is part of a strong Canadian contingent at the team, which is owned by Israeli-Canadian billionaire Sylvan Adams and co-sponsored by Canadian company Premier Tech.
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He joins Hugo Houle, Michael Woods and Guillaume Boivin in the racing squad, while the team also counts Canadians among the backroom staff in performance director Paulo Saldanha, directeur sportif Steve Bauer, and several coaches, soigneurs, and mechanics.
Derek Gee celebrates winning the combativity award at the end of the 2023 Giro d'Italia (Image credit: Stuart FranklinGetty Images)
"I've known Derek since he was a boy, winning local races in Canada, as he accompanied his father (against whom I competed in Masters races) to weekend bike races," Adams said.
"Israel-Premier Tech is Derek's natural home, as it is for the other aspiring Canadians, and Israelis, that we have in our development pipeline. With Derek, we are JUST. GETTING. STARTED. We expect big things from this talented rider in the near future.
"We knew Derek had a big engine when we took a chance on him and signed him to our U23 Continental program a couple of years ago. But, at this year's Giro, Derek proved that he has race smarts, and the ability to perform with the best riders in the pro peloton.
"It was a real coming-out party for Derek, along with the young teammates who accompanied him on our Giro squad. Accordingly, we decided to reward Derek by ripping up his neo-pro contract and signing him to a new six-year deal, that will ensure his future."
Gee moved up from the team's development squad Israel Cycling Academy at the start of the season and he's not the only young rider to impress so far in 2023. Italian Marco Frigo made the same move and was another breakaway staple at the Giro, finishing third on stage 15 to Bergamo.
Giro debutant, 23-year-old Sebastian Berwick, also scored a podium at the race, while 21-year-old neo-pro Matthew Riccitello also took on the race for the first time this year. Elsewhere, second-year pro Corbin Strong has racked up seven top-10 placings through the spring.
Gee, dubbed a "future leader of this team" by general manager Kjell Carlström, said that he doesn't know exactly where his career will take him, but stated that he's keen to get his first pro win after so many near misses at the Giro.
"I honestly can't say exactly which direction I want to go as a rider and what I want to achieve in that direction, but for now the biggest thing on my mind after the Giro is just getting a win. So many second places made me extremely hungry to get that first win and, hopefully, one day get a stage win in a Grand Tour.
"I'd like to continue to develop without necessarily picking something to specialize in, and just see which direction racing takes me in as a rider. I think that's the exciting part about this contract, there's time to do that, and I can't wait for the next 5 years with Israel-Premier Tech!"
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor, later being hired full-time. Her favourite races include Strade Bianche, the Tour de France Femmes, Paris-Roubaix, and Tro-Bro Léon.
