Last August, a Canadian cyclist, Derek Gee, announced his resignation from Israel-Premier Tech after his by then surprising absence from La Vuelta. He cited "legitimate reasons" and thanked his teammates and the staff, but didn't elaborate beyond "certain issues that made his continuation untenable".
Two months later, after the announcement that Israel-Premier Tech would be renamed, dropping the Israeli identity, Gee has opened up about what happened on an Instagram post. He defended that "he terminated his contract with right cause, as it every person's right when they are unable to continue performing their work under the existing circumstances", and took the decision "from a safety and personal-belief standpoint that weighed heavily on my conscience".
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However, it was not an easy decision for him, as he faces risk of having no team or protection if he got injured without a contract, "risk I was and am still willing to take". What is worse, he now faces a damages claim of around 30 million euros"for doing nothing more than exercising my fundamental rights as a professional and a person".
"These are not the kind of numbers, or the kind of situation, any athlete expects when they dream of becoming a professional cyclist, and I believe it flies in the face of the very values that sport seeks to uphold."
"What moves me the most is, when human issues are involved, money becomes the headline; money was not the issue that led to my termination", the 28-year-old said, adding that "it strengthens my belief that leaving the team was the right decision, regardless of the recent announcement of branding changes and cosmetic structural shifts".