Cian Uijtdebroeks hopes to mount Vuelta challenge: "That has always been the dream"

BORA - hansgrohe's Belgian prodigy Cian Uijtdebroeks has revealed his big goals for the season with a general classification challenge at the Vuelta a Espana front and centre.

“Trying for a top 10, that would be my personal goal for me," he tells WielerFlits. “If I improve something, I will really be able to participate in those competitions. Will I ever reach the level of a Remco or a Roglič? That is still the question, but I would really like it if I could take a few more steps and ride around like a João Almeida, for example. That would be fantastic."

The 20-year-old is yet to ride a Grand Tour in his young career but having seen his good friend and compatriot Remco Evenepoel thrive at last year's Vuelta the hope is there for Uijtdebroeks that this is a real, achievable goal to set himself. “It is very nice that it is moving in the direction of a GC rider. That has always been the dream, and it is nice that we can work in that direction”, said Uijtdebroeks. “You start to have a slightly better position in the team. That is also important, that you get a little more support around you.”

“But there are still guys who have proven much more, and that will stay that way for a while. I'm going to have to win a few more games! But it does change my position a bit. And I know that faith in me is great," he continues. “If I could choose myself, I would take it day by day, without too much pressure, but try to go for a ranking. I also know that top 5 is going to be terribly difficult. But if we could do in three weeks what we did in Catalonia in one week, that would be fantastic. It is the highest level, but so was Catalonia! We will first see how the team reacts to that and what their goals are.”