'I was my own coach, and I don't know what I'm doing' – after six months without a team or racing, Derek Gee-West goes full steam for Giro d'Italia

Canada's Derek Gee-West will put all his eggs in the Giro d'Italia basket this season as he aims to hit a first Grand Tour podium with new team Lidl-Trek.

With a programme of stage racing leading up to May, the 28-year-old said he had given zero thought to anything beyond what he said was his favourite Grand Tour.

"Even since I was a kid, it's been my favourite," he said. "Obviously I had a breakout race there in 2023 but it's something that if I did it every year for the rest of my career, I'd be happy with."

Gee-West will race the Volta ao Algarve in February, the Volta a Catalunya in March before the Tour of the Alps in April on his way to the start of the Giro on 8 May.

He had been getting on well with Lidl-Trek's fellow GC newbie Juan Ayuso, he said ("he spent a decent amount of his childhood in America, so he's almost like a fellow native English speaker"), and was not concerned by the team's continued focus on its traditional sprinting successes in the three-week races.

"Honestly, maybe it's the style of rider I am, but I don't feel like I need to have six guys around me to race GC," Gee-West said. "I think I would compliment really well having guys stage hunting, or sprinting, obviously, which will remain a big focus."

Gee-West has spent six months away from the cut-and-thrust of the bunch, having set about terminating his contract with Israel-Premier Tech in August. He had done this, he said later, because of "serious concerns" over safety and a "personal-belief standpoint that weighed heavily on my conscience".

However, speaking to the press on Wednesday he would not be drawn any further on the matter, saying only: "There's a whole bunch of reasons that, to be honest, I just want to leave that the past. That's definitely not something I want to get into."

However, there were no lingering issues from the contract wranglings, overseen by the UCI, which saw him facing, at one point, a claim of £26 million from his old team.

The six months spent in limbo since he last raced at the Canadian national championships in June had been "incredibly tough" he said.

"It was all consuming, but when you arrive at a team camp, you're on a new team. It really leaves you pretty quickly. I'm not going to exaggerate and say it was. It was fine. It was a very, very tough period. But it hasn't lingered. And honestly, I feel kind of like fresh, re-motivated, ready to get back in the peloton."

Gee-West said the training he had done in the interim was far from perfect, but his numbers held up.

"I'm sure the quality wasn't great, because I was my own coach, and I don't know what I'm doing," he joked, "but it's OK. We got to December and the training values are where they were the year before. Everything's all good.

"I think the only thing that we could see going into 2026, is just being out of the peloton for a little bit. But, you know, it's the same if you break a collarbone. So it's not, hopefully not too, too impactful, and you just step back into the new season."

He signed late on for his new team, where he will count Ayuso, Giulio Ciccone, Jonathan Milan and Mads Pedersen among his team-mates, but said the integration had been seamless.

"Although it was an incredibly late arrival, it seems like a really well organised team," Gee-West said. "The resources here and the expertise is immense. I just couldn't see any downside. It just seemed like the best landing spot," he said of his decision to join.

A latecomer not just to Lidl-Trek but also to pro cycling itself, having first moved into the ProContinental ranks in 2023 aged 25, Gee-West said he was daring to dream, and hoped to emulate some of his Canadian cycling heroes.

"The confidence grows with results, and I've definitely allowed myself to dream a little bit bigger, you know, chase some bigger goals," he said.

"Canadian cycling is very near and dear to me. So I'm chasing some big names there to try and reach the level that you know, some of the Canadian, great riders achieved, like Mike Woods, like Steve Bauer, like Ryder Hesjedal. These are, you know, inspirations for me and kind of set the set the benchmark for where, where I want to be able to bring my career."