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  "description": "Derek Gee-West was one of the animators on the final climb of stage 20 of the Giro d'Italia, going on the attack in an effort to expose fourth-place Thymen Arensman with the goal of moving up to fourth himself, which is where the Canadian finished in last year's Giro.\n\n\"It was super hard. Right from the start, the pace was crazy fast, and if I had any hope of moving into fourth, I had to try to attack Arensman,\" Gee-West said. \"Jonas Vingegaard had already done his thing. I tried to go early and",
  "path": "/gee-west-finds-motivation-in-finishing-the-giro-one-spot-lower-than-in-2025/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-30T17:59:38.000Z",
  "site": "https://escapecollective.com",
  "textContent": "Derek Gee-West was one of the animators on the final climb of stage 20 of the Giro d'Italia, going on the attack in an effort to expose fourth-place Thymen Arensman with the goal of moving up to fourth himself, which is where the Canadian finished in last year's Giro.\n\n\"It was super hard. Right from the start, the pace was crazy fast, and if I had any hope of moving into fourth, I had to try to attack Arensman,\" Gee-West said. \"Jonas Vingegaard had already done his thing. I tried to go early and was working well with Jai [Hindley]. The Ineos guys were strong and clawed their way back in the end, and I just had to suffer in a sprint.\"\n\nThe 2025 Giro, where Gee-West secured his best-ever Grand Tour GC result, was the Canadian's last appearance with Israel-Premier Tech before his storied separation from the team. Gee-West's rumoured signing to Lidl-Trek was only confirmed on the 6th January – it's not been a conventional build-up to the Italian Grand Tour.\n\n\"I think there are two ways to look at it; fourth last year, fifth this year. I'm not stoked on that, but at the same time, I'm grateful to be here,\" Gee-West went on. \"I had a really shit prep. I missed training camp and then, to be honest, after stage 2, after that crash, seeing how a lot of guys came out of that ... just to get through that and finish the race, and chalk up a GC result, even if it's not the one I want, I'm pretty happy with that.\"\n\nGee-West has gained a reputation for blossoming late in three-week races, and this Giro was no different.\n\n\"I don't know if I always have to wait for the third week to have good legs, but maybe that's something we could work on. Just to get to that level at any point in the race. I'm super happy with that ... I think it's also motivational because to go fourth and then fifth is super frustrating, so it's something to aim for in the future. I was really happy with my level at the end of the race.\"",
  "title": "Gee-West finds motivation in finishing the Giro one spot lower than in 2025",
  "updatedAt": "2026-05-30T17:59:39.747Z"
}