'I'm super happy with it' - Derek Gee-West delivers strong TT for Giro GC ambitions

Speaking after his ride to the media, including Domestique, Gee-West was quietly pleased with his effort on a course that had stripped the bunch of any excuses.

"I'm super happy with it. That was a super hard TT. Too much time to think out there, in a straight line," said Gee-West

The 42km route from Viareggio to Massa, almost dead straight along the Tuscan coast, had been billed as a power course before the start. Gee-West confirmed that holding tempo across a long, featureless effort had been as much a mental test as a physical one.

"Super hard. Nothing to focus on but how much it hurts. It was a really good TT course, because you don't see ones like that very often anymore, but it was really brutal."

"You never know how a TT is going to go until usually 10 minutes in. I knew I felt good, but I'm really, really happy with that. The legs have been getting better every stage, so that's a really nice confirmation that they're there on the TT bike as well."

The Canadian had a clear target after the effort. "I'm hoping to end in the top 10 on the day. Obviously, it matters where I am relative to the GC guys, but the top 10 would be really nice. Sitting there with that many riders here, I'm really happy."

The bigger question is what the time trial does for the GC battle across the second and third weeks. Gee-West lost time on stage 2 in the chaotic finale to Veliko Tarnovo as a consequence of the huge crash. He went into stage 10 looking to claw some of the time back and looked ahead to a tough second and third week.

"It's really super fast, so I don't think the gaps will be massive. But there are such hard stages coming up that it's nice to gain some time on the TT. At the same time, you never know what can happen in these massive mountain stages coming up."