Derek Gee Terminates His Israel-Premier Tech Contract And Becomes The Biggest Mid-Season Free Agent In Cycling: Every Grand Tour Team With A Yates-Shaped Hole Is Already On The Phone
Canadian stage-race specialist Derek Gee has formally terminated his contract with Israel-Premier Tech and entered the mid-season free-agent market, his management agency Trinity Sports Management confirmed in a 14:30 Friday statement that landed in the inboxes of every WorldTour general manager in the sport before the Pays de la Loire Tour stage was even over. The separation is described as "mutual and immediate" and is understood to be the result of a six-week disagreement over 2026 Giro d'Italia leadership that escalated through February's Ruta del Sol and March's Tirreno-Adriatico before crystallising in a Monday meeting in Girona that neither side walked out of happy.
Gee, 28, is the most consequential rider to become a mid-season free agent in the WorldTour era. Fourth on general classification at the 2023 Giro d'Italia, fifth at the 2024 Giro, winner of the 2024 Critérium du Dauphiné, holder of four WorldTour stage-race podiums across 2023 to 2025, and the only non-European rider inside the UCI World Ranking's top ten for the whole of the second half of the 2025 season. Israel-Premier Tech picked him up on a two-year deal at the end of 2023 after his breakout Giro from Israel's rival Israel Start-Up Nation feeder squad; that contract had been expected to run to the end of 2026 with a one-year extension clause that either party could activate before the Dauphiné.
The agency statement is deliberately sparse on the reasons. "Derek and Israel-Premier Tech have chosen to move forward separately with immediate effect. Derek remains fully fit, fully trained, and fully focused on the remainder of the 2026 season. His management team will be working through options in the coming days." Trinity's Simon Turner would not take phone calls on Friday afternoon. Israel-Premier Tech manager Kjell Carlström issued a parallel statement from the team's Girona service course expressing "respect and gratitude for everything Derek has given this team" and confirming that the Canadian's Giro d'Italia start line place was now available to "one of our young riders who has earned his chance."
The phone calls started inside an hour. The clearest Gee-shaped hole in the WorldTour right now is at Visma-Lease a Bike, where the Jai Hindley rumour has been running for two weeks as the team tries to find a long-term replacement for Adam Yates at UAE. Visma DS Grischa Niermann would not comment beyond "we are aware of the news" when caught on his way into the Visma Compiègne hotel on Friday evening, but one Visma staff member, speaking on condition of anonymity because the team's transfer window is not yet officially open, said: "Derek has been on our list since the 2024 Dauphiné. We did not expect him to be on it in April."
The secondary phone calls are coming from EF Education-EasyPost, who have quietly been without a dedicated Grand Tour GC leader since Richard Carapaz's January knee surgery ruled him out of the first half of the season, and from NSN Pro Cycling, who already signed Wout Poels and Florian Lipowitz this winter and are reportedly looking for one more experienced Grand Tour name to anchor a Vuelta campaign. Decathlon-CMA CGM are understood to be interested but constrained by their Seixas-centred budget allocation. Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe are not interested — a team source confirmed on Friday that their Grand Tour lineup is "locked" through the end of 2027.
The contractual mechanics are messy. Mid-season terminations in the WorldTour require UCI approval, a fresh medical, and a twenty-one-day cooling-off period before a rider can re-sign with another team. Gee will not be racing this weekend and is not expected to appear at the Amstel Gold Race on 19 April regardless of where he ends up. The earliest realistic return date is the Tour de Romandie on 28 April, which happens to be the first stage race after the Ardennes where three of his most likely destinations — Visma, EF, NSN — are all planning to start GC leaders.
Gee himself has not spoken publicly. His last social-media post, on Wednesday evening from a training ride in Andorra, was a single photograph of a coffee cup with no caption. Canadian national team coach Kevin Field, who has known Gee since his track days, said on Friday night: "I spoke to Derek this morning. He is fine. He is more than fine. Wait a week." Canadian cycling's most valuable road asset is suddenly the most valuable free agent in the sport, and the team that signs him will probably define its next two Grand Tour campaigns around the signing. Watch the Romandie startlists.