Canada's Derek Gee let out a long sigh of relief after stage 4 of Tirreno-Adriatico, knowing that he was fortunate the peloton closed the gap to the echelon attacks that lit up the stage south from Umbria into Abruzzo.
Gee missed the first attack on the high plain after the Valico la Crocetta climb and was still chasing when race leader Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) got away in another echelon attack. Gee lost teammates Hugo Houle and Pascal Ackermann during stage 3 and so had limited support in the peloton after the early climb shook out the sprinters and some domestiques.
"Everything seemed straightforward even if it was miserable with the weather, then we got to the top of the climb and we just got caught off guard in the cross winds," Gee admitted post stage.
"Thanks to the boys, they rode out of their skins to get us back on and I managed not to lose any time in the end. So nothing was lost but a little more stressful than it needed to be."
Gee rode an excellent opening time trial in Lido di Camaiore, finishing just 11 seconds down on stage runner up Ayuso, with Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) also impressing, finishing the time trial only six seconds down on the Spaniard.
Despite the terrible weather on Thursday, the GC has remained unchanged with Ganna staying in the leader's blue jersey. Gee is only 12 seconds down on Ayuso as the decisive mountain stages near. The other expected overall contenders are all 20 seconds or so behind.
Friday's fifth stage is from Ascoli Piceno to Pergola further north in the Le Marche region. The 205km stage includes dozens of short but steep rolling hills, with two nine-kilometre climbs on the final 35km loop. It will surely inspire the overall contenders to go on the attack.
Saturday's sixth stage is the only mountain finish of this year's Tirreno-Adriatico. It is 'only' 163km long compared to the multiple stages over 200km but ends with a 7.7km, 7.8% gradient climb to the finish above Frontignano at 1327 metres. Numbers that will see a battle for every second.
Gee impressed when he won the recent O Gran Camiño stage race in Spain and dominated the time trial stage. After his ninth place overall at the 2024 Tour de France, he will further test his Grand Tour credentials by targeting the Giro d'Italia.
This year's Tirreno-Adriatico is a key stepping stone to bigger goals in May.
Gee wants to fight for the podium in the final three stages on Tirreno-Adriatico to kick-start his Italian stage race campaign.
"We'll have to see how we recover from the last couple days but I felt good yesterday so hopefully today there's not too much damage done," he said with a mix of optimism and humility.
"The legs are still good for the days coming up."
