Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) finished fifth on stage 16 of the Giro d'Italia from Bellinzona to Carì on Tuesday and moved up to sixth overall, climbing three places in the general classification as rivals including Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Michael Storer (Tudor) and Ben O'Connor (Jayco-AlUla) lost time on the 113km mountain stage.
This is the clearest sign yet that the Canadian national champion is steadily improving as the race goes on after losing time in Bulgaria after a poorly timed mechanical. He was distanced three times on the climb with the first sting coming when Visma | Lease a Bike were ramping up the tempo for Jonas Vingegaard's attack. The second came when Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos) tried a move for second on the day and finally in the sprint finish.
Speaking to reporters after the finish in a video shared by Lidl-Trek's press team, Gee-West explained why he couldn't follow his rivals. "They're super punchy on the climbs and I just can't do it," he said. "With a kilometre to go I caught them and they were going easy and I knew if I kept going at that pace I'd just get dropped when they kicked again so I just tried to go, which obviously didn't go anywhere. And then they kicked at the end. I've just got to ride like that and luckily today I lasted longer than a few more guys."
Gee-West has always been this style of climber. Similar to GC riders of the past such as Bradley Wiggins, Tom Dumoulin, and Geraint Thomas. Riding to his own tempo and trying to finish strong. The sprint at the end, which was won by Felix Gall (Decathlon-CMA CGM) after he launched early and surprised his rivals with Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) completing the podium on the day.
The Lidl-Trek GC leader lost around a minute on stage two in Bulgaria but has been solid since then. He lost touch earlier than hoped on Blockhaus but has been improving steadily as the race has gone on. "It is really good for the confidence that the legs are getting to where they need to be," said the 28-year-old. "Especially for stages 19 and 20 coming up. Those are going to be massive massive days. But really good signs."
Gee-West did start to improve in the third week at the Giro last year where he finished fourth overall behind Simon Yates, Isaac Del Toro and Richard Carapaz. When asked if he thought that gave him an advantage this year he said, laughing, "We'll see on 19 and 20 because again, you know, you feel better and better every day maybe relative to the other guys, but at the same time you feel worse every day because you're getting deeper into a 'Grandy' (Grand Tour). So, it is really hard to know. It is a bit of a surprise on every climb where I'm going to start to lose the group."
The GC is still changing every day. Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) is now fading but he is still about a minute and a half ahead of Gee-West. That said, he has been losing chunks of time and seems to be slowly drifting down the GC with Gee-West on the upward curve. Vingegaard is out of sight for the Canadian and Gall, Arensman, and Hindley all look to be on better form, but the big days ahead may see things change.
Cover image credit: Massimo Paolone/LaPresse
