Israel-Premier Tech's Derek Gee yielded a handful of seconds to rivals Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) on an aggressive finale to stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia, but is still counted among the riders well in contention in this race.
The Canadian was dubbed by Del Toro as one of the four main contenders for victory in Rome, and sits 1:57 down on the race lead after 17 stages, finishing 16 seconds, plus 10 bonus seconds, down on the pink jersey on Wednesday.
Del Toro and Carapaz lit up the stage when the Ecuadorian attacked on Le Motte climb, and got the better of the less punchy riders, Gee and Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike).
"I saw it, there was just nothing I could do," Gee said at the finish, answering questions from FloBikes.
"They were so explosive in the last couple hundred metres, [Del Toro] and Carapaz got the gap and there was just not enough time to close it."
It looked like there may be a slight lack of cooperation between Gee and Yates to chase down their two podium rivals, but the Canadian said it was more that the punchy climb and strong attack made it hard for either rider to do anything more.
"I think we both probably prefer longer efforts than that, that was a full sprint over the top," Gee said on the topic of Yates. "Kudos for that move, it was a really good move, because they got the separation and then it was just so fast to the finish."
Though Gee lost 26 seconds to GC leader Del Toro on stage 17, he didn't appear to see the Mexican's victory as a sign of dominance on the overall, more just on that particular finish.
"I think he's just a super explosive rider, so that last climb suited him really well, but we'll see what happens the next couple of days," Gee said. "Hopefully tomorrow is an easier day, but then we'll see how 19 and 20 go."
Though Gee doesn't have a team as strong as perhaps UAE Team Emirates or Visma-Lease a Bike, Israel-Premier Tech have been possibly stronger than expected in this race so far, placing riders up the road on key stages who have acted as satellite riders for their GC rider.
That approach worked on stage 17, when Israel placed Hugo Houle in the day's break, who was able to aid Gee after the Mortirolo.
"It was just the perfect stage to have guys up the road, because on the Mortirolo it was hard, it's pretty selective, but then just so much valley afterwards, so having Hugo there was a massive help, and also just having the Visma boys there, it made the valley go a lot quicker," Gee said.
The Canadian has yet to really go on the attack this race, but has been riding back into form after a difficult start to the race, and has been clear that he expects to perform better on the longer, steadier climbs still to come on Friday and Saturday.
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