Derek Gee-West came runner-up four times in the 2023 Giro d’Italia, and on Friday he added a fifth second place to his palmarès. Gee-West was in the middle of the action on the queen stage, getting into the breakaway, winning the day’s Red Bull Kilometre, taking second and jumping up one spot on GC. Sepp Kuss won the stage and his teammate Jonas Vingegaard kept safe in pink with two stages remaining.
Preliminaries
Vingegaard was over four minutes ahead of Felix Gall, but the Austrian only had his second spot by 24 seconds over Thymen Arensman. Gee-West had a whole 1:29 to make up on Afonso Eulálio if the Canadian wanted fifth. Michael Storer was only five seconds behind Gee-West.
1) Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark/Visma-Lease a Bike) 70:44:04
2) Felix Gall (Austria/Decathlon-CMA-CGM) +4:03
3) Thymen Arensman (The Netherlands/Netcompany-Ineos) +4:27
6) Derek Gee West (Canada/Lidl-Trek) +7:09
The Course
Three of the six categorized Dolomites climbs spread over 151 km were 9.3 percent or over and the first one was 8.1. The real beast was the only HC-rated ascent of the 109th edition, the Passo Giau, 9.8 km of 9.3 percent. The summit finish of Piani di Pezzè was 5 km of 9.6 percent.
By the first ascent, 12.1-km Cat. 1 Passo Duran, a 22-rider breakaway was loose. Back in the peloton, Storer and a few others charged away from the pink jersey group and Gee-West joined in to mark the Australian. At one point there were five groups with a minimum of five riders spread all over Passo Duran’s slopes ahead of the peloton. Giulio Ciccone led his 14-strong group over 36 seconds ahead of the Gee-West chase and 1:23 before Vingegaard and company.
The next climb, Cat. 2 Coi, was short but 9.3 percent. The Ciccone and Gee-West groups merged. Ciccone and Einer Rubio charged clear and Ciccone nabbed the maximum points. Almost immediately, Cat. 2 Forcella Staulanza titlted to the sky. Ciccone drew ever closer to Vingegaard in the KOM by tipping over first.
Passo Giau was this year’s Cima Coppi, the highest point of the race. The 9.8-km ascent was 9.3 percent. Gee-West and the others caught Ciccone and Rubio right at its foot, and straightaway riders started to lose contact. As Gee-West, who took the last Cima Coppi on Passo Giau, started to threaten Jai…
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