![Derek Gee Triumphs and Seizes Race Lead in Thrilling O Gran Camiño Time Trial]( "Derek Gee Triumphs and Seizes Race Lead in Thrilling O Gran Camiño Time Trial")
Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) rocketed throughout the degree 3 person time trial of O Gran Camiño on Friday, cruising into the race lead because the yellow jersey holder, Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) cracked at the lengthy climb that featured within the first part of the direction.
Cort may simplest organize fourth position at the day, shedding 25 seconds to the Canadian. Davide Piganzoli (Polti-VisitMalta) was once 2d at the degree and Maxime Decomble (Groupama-FDJ) was once 3rd.
Gee now leads Cort through 5 seconds within the normal classification, with Piganzoli 3rd general at 17 seconds.
“I’m really happy,” Gee mentioned. “I put a lot of expectations on myself going into this – we did some work on the TT bike over the winter, and then I wanted to start the year strong in the TT. So I’m happy to win it.
“It was once a troublesome one. This TT in reality holds a different position in my center, as a result of in 2022 my outcome within the O Gran Camino TT is what helped me get my first professional contract. It was once some other in point of fact exhausting TT at this race, however I used to be glad to be in the market.”
When asked whether he thinks he can hold the yellow jersey until the end on Sunday, Gee said he expected the coming stages to be “chaos”.
“Uno-X confirmed the day gone by how sturdy they’re. Magnus installed a perfect TT nowadays once more. After which there is a couple guys right here who’re in point of fact, in point of fact just right climbers. It will be attention-grabbing. Optimistically we will, we will keepsome keep watch over.”
Stage 3 of O Gran Camiño was a challenging 15.6km individual time trial from Ourense to Pereiro de Aguiar with a 5km climb in the first half of the route. Israel-Premier Tech’s Pau Martí and Simon Clarke set two of the fastest early times, but were surpassed by Rafael Reis (Anicolor-Tien21) with a time of 24:20
Soudal-Quickstep’s development team rider Federico Savino put in a strong effort to move into the hot seat. However, Hugo Houle put Israel-Premier Tech back on top, going 14 seconds quicker than Savino at 24:02.
Then, Urko Berrade (Kern Pharma) made up for some of the time he lost on stage 1 with a late puncture, going nine seconds faster than Houle to move into the hot seat. His time there did not last long, as Txomin Juaristi (Euskaltel-Euskadi), who crashed in the bunch sprint on the first stage, powered through with a time two seconds faster.
But Berrade didn’t even have time to head to the podium as Maxime Decomble (Groupama-FDJ) was right behind, setting a time 12 seconds quicker – 23:39. Piganzoli then came through with a four-second advantage to take the lead as Magnus Cort began his effort.
As the bigger names rolled down the ramp onto the course, it became clear that Piganzoli’s time would not hold. Gee rolled through the intermediate check with the fastest time and was still the fastest at the finish, 17 seconds better than the Italian.
Cort struggled on the climb, at one point appearing to have a problem, but he did not stop for a spare bike. He was bleeding time all along the course and lost more than enough time to put Gee into the yellow jersey.
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