{"id":206496,"date":"2025-10-11T23:17:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T23:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/206496\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T23:17:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T23:17:08","slug":"cycling-news-2025l-derek-gee-facing-lawsuit-from-israel-premier-tech-contract-dispute-personal-beliefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/206496\/","title":{"rendered":"Cycling news 2025L Derek Gee facing lawsuit from Israel-Premier Tech, contract dispute, personal beliefs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canadian cyclist<\/a> Derek Gee has revealed he is facing a $54 million damages claim from his former team, Israel-Premier Tech, after he ended his contract citing “safety and personal beliefs.”<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old Gee, who finished fourth overall at this year’s Giro d’Italia, quit Israel-Premier Tech just before September’s Vuelta a Espana.<\/p>\n

That race saw pro-Palestinian protests linked to the Israel-Gaza conflict.<\/p>\n

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\"Ex-Israel-Premier<\/p>\n

Ex-Israel-Premier Tech rider Derek Gee Derek is facing a lawsuit from his former team.\u00a0Alessandro Levati via Getty Images<\/p>\n

“I terminated my contract with just cause, as is every person’s right when they are unable to continue performing their work under the existing circumstances,” Gee said in a statement on social media on Friday.<\/p>\n

“This decision was not taken lightly \u2014 it followed an irreparable relationship with the team principal, as well as serious concerns related to racing for the team, both from a safety and personal-belief standpoint that weighed heavily on my conscience.”<\/p>\n

Israel-Premier Tech told Reuters they could not comment as the case is currently before the arbitral board of the UCI, cycling’s governing body.<\/p>\n

Reuters has also reached out to the UCI for comment.<\/p>\n

Gee explained that leaving the team meant he was without a contract or protection if he were injured, but he called it a risk he was willing to take, as he could no longer continue racing for them.<\/p>\n

“I understand the team sees it differently… However, I am now facing what I understand to be a damages claim said to exceed approximately \u20ac30 million ($54 million AUD) – for doing nothing more than exercising my fundamental rights as a professional and a person,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It strengthens my belief that leaving the team was the right decision, regardless of the recent announcement of branding changes and cosmetic structural shifts.”<\/p>\n

It is unclear what the $54 million figure represents, as professional cyclists typically earn only a fraction of that amount.<\/p>\n

Israel-Premier Tech announced last week that the team would undergo a full rebrand for the 2026 season, moving away from its Israeli identity after more than a decade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canadian cyclist Derek Gee has revealed he is facing a $54 million damages claim from his former team,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-206496","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}