The tall Canadian arrived at Lidl-Trek via the messiest divorce in cycling — a reported €30 million legal fight to escape Israel-Premier Tech, now settled and, in his words, 'best left in the past'. Fresh off fifth at the Giro, where he attacked relentlessly in the final week, he's the surprise late addition who turns Lidl-Trek's mountain train into a genuine armada. Officially he's here to shepherd Ayuso; unofficially he's the best insurance policy in the race.
Palmarès
- Giro d'Italia overall most combative rider, four stage runner-up finishes (2023)
- Critérium du Dauphiné stage 3 winner and 3rd overall (2024)
- Tour de France 9th overall (2024)
- Giro d'Italia 4th overall (2025)
- Giro d'Italia 5th overall (2026)
- Canadian road race champion (2025); Canadian time trial champion (2022, 2023, 2026)
Cut-out factHe raced as Derek Gee until November 2025, when he married cyclocross and gravel racer Ruby West and hyphenated his name — he's also a keen birdwatcher and a former Olympic team pursuit track rider.
The squad
Riding the 2026 Tour with Juan Ayuso, Mads Pedersen, Quinn Simmons, Mattias Skjelmose, Toms Skujiņš, Mathias Vacek, Carlos Verona — see the full Lidl-Trek team page.
Portrait: AI paper-collage render (gpt-image-2) after a reference photograph — source: mobile-img.lpcdn.ca, author: see source, license: see source.
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