{"id":395753,"date":"2026-01-08T08:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T08:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/395753\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T08:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T08:44:11","slug":"no-surprises-this-time-lidl-trek-informed-skjelmose-of-gee-west-signing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/395753\/","title":{"rendered":"No surprises this time: Lidl-Trek informed Skjelmose of Gee-West signing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The team news that Osgoode, Ont.\u2019s Derek Gee-West is now public<\/a>, but riders on Lidl-Trek were definitely told before. According to directeur sportif and former pro Kim Andersen, the team\u2019s established leaders \u2014 including Mattias Skjelmose \u2014 were told about the Canadian national champ\u2019s arrival well before it became public. (This time.)<\/p>\n

That marks a wee bit of a difference compared to an earlier situation this winter, when Skjelmose said he learned of Juan Ayuso\u2019s move to Lidl-Trek indirectly. \u201cI found out quite early, without the team telling me. I thought that was a bit strange,\u201d Skjelmose told TV 2 Sport at the time.<\/a><\/p>\n

Everyone informed before news was official<\/p>\n

This time, however, there were no surprises. Speaking to Danish outlet Feltet<\/a>, Andersen confirmed that the riders were kept in the loop as negotiations with Gee-West progressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a secret for a long time, but they were informed,\u201d Andersen said when asked directly whether Skjelmose knew in advance.<\/p>\n

Gee-West\u2019s arrival further strengthens an already crowded group of general classification contenders at Lidl-Trek. Alongside the Canadian national champ, the team can count on Skjelmose, Ayuso, Giulio Ciccone and Tao Geoghegan Hart \u2014 all riders with proven GC credentials in Grand Tours. The team is defo stacked\u2026but management will figure it all out.<\/p>\n

The Grand Tours plan<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a task we have to work with,\u201d Andersen told Feltet<\/a>. \u201cIf we want to take the next step, we need to be represented in all the Grand Tours, also in the overall standings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Internally, Gee\u2019s signing has not been a major topic of debate during the team\u2019s winter preparations in Spain. \u201cWe haven\u2019t really discussed it much. He just becomes part of the team,\u201d Andersen said, saying that there has been no negative reaction from within the squad.<\/p>\n

The key issue now is figuring out who does what. Ayuso is expected to lead at the Tour de France, while Skjelmose has been promised leadership in the Ardennes Classics and later the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a. Gee-West, meanwhile, appears likely to focus on the Giro d\u2019Italia.<\/p>\n

Once more to the Giro?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve already announced who\u2019s riding the Tour, and Derek has done very well in the Giro,\u201d Andersen explained. Asked whether that points clearly toward Italy, he replied: \u201cI think so, yes, that\u2019s quite likely.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 28, Gee-West is coming off a solid past few years highlighted by fourth place at last year\u2019s Giro d\u2019Italia and his memorable run of four second-place stage finishes in 2023. However, since the whole Israel \u2013 Premier Tech saga, where he left the team in early August, he hasn\u2019t raced. In fact the last time he pinned a number on was at the national champs in June.<\/p>\n

But for Lidl-Trek, he now adds another strong card to the GC deck \u2014 one they believe can be played without blindsiding their existing leaders. (And hopefully they can change his national championship jersey before then<\/a>, thankyouverymuch.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The team news that Osgoode, Ont.\u2019s Derek Gee-West is now public, but riders on Lidl-Trek were definitely told…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[142395,49,48,635,37378,42478,10873,20987,82],"class_list":["post-395753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-2026-giro-ditalia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-derek-gee","tag-juan-ayuso","tag-lidl-trek","tag-mattias-skjelmose","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}