Google Derek Gee and “revelation” and “Giro,” and you’re going to get a bunch of hits. The 25-year-old has had a stunning debut with four second places and a fourth. He’s been aggressive, spent almost 1000 km in breakaways, and his do-or-die style of racing has won the hearts of the cycling world. Cycling media can’t get enough of the Israel – Premier Tech rider as he is such a fighter. (Side note, here at Canadian Cycling Magazine, we were saying GeeRo d’Italia waaaaay before everyone else, but anyway. We were also following the Ottawa cyclist when he released his first album, and now that he’s going platinum evvvverrrrybody seems to be a fan. But that’s OK. Giv’er, bud!)
Consistency is key in cycling and Derek Gee showed it
The Grand Tours reward riders who not only lead the overall in time but those who are consistently the best on the climbs and sprints. The same goes for the best young rider and best team. But as of 2023, there’s no competition for the rider who is the best in several of those competitions. So the specialists have their jerseys, but not so much for the all-rounders.
Side note: If you’ve ever heard someone say that “Mark Cavendish can’t climb” or “X can’t time trial,” be sure to refute them. Of course, a guy like Cav can climb or ride a good TT, and he would most likely beat 99.99 percent of the riders in the world doing so. He just can’t outclimb Pog, or out-TT Ganna, say.
Bring back the best competition in pro cycling
Back to what needs to be brought back. There used to be a competition in the Tour de France called the Combination classification, as well as in the Giro and Vuelta.
The jersey for the Tour was the most striking, as it looked like a quilt of all the main competitions: Yellow, green, and polka dots. It would rank the riders in each of those categories and find someone who was the best in all three. They may not be leading it but be up there. The Tour stopped this competition way back in 1989. The Giro d’Italia started it in 1985 and played on and off with their take on the jersey until 2006. It was a sort of humdrum blue top, nothing as striking as the TdF version.
The Vuelta lasted much longer with the combination classification. Between 2006 and 2018, the leader of the classification wore a white jersey, although in 2005 the leader wore a golden-green jersey.
A rider like Gee, who is a rouleur and is not afraid to mix it up on the sprints or climbs, would be a perfect…
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