Derek Gee will ride into Rome in fourth place in the general classification of the 2025 Giro d'Italia, knowing he could have done little more and so satisfied and proud of his performance across the three weeks of intense racing.
The Israel-Premier Tech rider fought his way back to Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) time and time again on the Colle delle Finestre as they squabbled and refused to work together. He then fought to survive and finished with his GC rivals in Sestriere.
The Canadian's ride on stage 20 was emblematic of his whole Giro.
"Obviously, when you’re in fourth place, you want the podium. But I had the fourth-best legs," he said just beyond the finish line to Cyclingnews and FloBikes.
"Those guys were well above me today, so there was nothing I could do. I’m just happy to be here, in this position."
Gee came back to Del Toro and Carapaz repeatedly but was actually riding his own race. Del Toro faultered and Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) took over as the maglia rosa on the Colle delle Finestre, with just one flat stage left in the Giro.
"I didn’t really have the energy to think about what Del Toro and Carapaz were doing. I just did my own ride, I'm super steady," he explained.
"It would have been suicide for me to try and go with those guys. With the kind of kick they have and their ability to recover from it, I would have been gone really, really quick. I rode it super steady but even I blew. I was crawling by the top."
Gee lost 57 precious seconds on stage 1 to Tirana but refused to give up the GC fight. He gradually climbed back up the GC thanks to an excellent time trial in Pisa and a brave ride in the rain to Gorizia.
He climbed to fourth overall when the Giro hit the mountains in week three and defended that position until the finish in Sestriere.
"I'm happy in fourth," he said. "The team was amazing all race, we couldn't really hope for much more."
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