Nearly 14 months have passed since Derek Gee-West and Juan Ayuso crossed swords for the first time and only time in a Grand Tour GC battle at the 2025 Giro d'Italia, but the Canadian still vividly recollects the impression Ayuso, now his teammate, had on him during that race.
"He was smoking me at the start," the 28-year-old told Cyclingnews with a wry grin before stage 13 of the Tour de France, "but then he had bad luck. He got stung by that bee" - and then had to abandon.
"I actually haven't had too many head-to-heads with him, maybe back in the Dauphiné in 2024. But in the races he's finished, I don't think I ever beat him."
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In the Dauphiné that year, Gee-West took a breakthrough third-place overall finish and a stage win, but Ayuso was involved in a bad crash on a waterlogged descent and had to abandon on stage 6.
Fast forward a couple of years and things have moved on considerably. The two are now teammates at Lidl-Trek, where Gee-West has been learning in this year's Tour about how Ayuso works as a team leader, with the Canadian highlighting, amidst other talents, the Spaniard's direct approach to communication.
"He's pretty clear; it actually makes the job quite easy. If he wants something, he lets you know," Gee-West says. "From a helper's perspective, that's exactly what you want.
"He's also really confident, which is super-nice to have in a team leader. So we'll see how the rest of the race goes, but he's a good guy to be backing." He grins again when asked what single characteristic he'd like to take from Ayuso to add to his own set of cycling talents, saying - only half-jokingly - "his legs!"
Regarding the upcoming high-mountain challenges, as a top-five Giro finisher himself, Gee-West says he's only too aware of how complicated it can be to challenge the other rivals.
But at the same time, a rider like Ayuso, currently fifth overall, leading the best young rider competition and lagging just 18 seconds behind Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in the virtual podium, is always gunning to be in the thick of the action.
"It's tough, having been in a GC position a lot of times, you just have to hope legs show up," Gee-West says.
"He's had great legs so far, but this weekend" - in the Vosges and then the Alps - "will be super decisive.
"Hopefully, the legs are there, and when Juan is good, we know how good he is. So hopefully he'll come out of this weekend feeling even more confident for the third week."
The third week also holds a potential challenge for Gee-West, as the three-times National Time Trial Champion could - on paper- have a crack at Tuesday's 26.1 kilometre TT test. But for now, he's holding fire on whether he will or won't make it a target: that, once again, comes down in part to Ayuso and how he and co-leader Mattias Skjelmose perform this crucial weekend in the Vosges and Alps.
"I have no idea, we'll see after that how the guys are sitting [on GC], if they need me to rest or take on the TT. Either one is fine by me. Another recovery day" - which is what the time trial stage would effectively become for Gee-West, if he opted not to challenge for it - "would not be too bad either.
"But so far, I've not even looked at the TT route - that's a job for the rest day." Before which, of course, Gee-West will have plenty to keep him occupied on some of the toughest climbs of eastern France.
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