Dan Martin weighs in Cian Uijtdebroeks debate: "Riders need to understand and respect long term contracts are a risk on both sides"

Cian Uijtdebroeks and the future of his career in the peloton have quickly become the talk of the cycling world in recent days, with numerous familiar names within the sport sharing their varying opinions.

One of these to express an opinion is the decorated ex-pro Dan Martin. "I do think riders need to understand and respect long term contracts are a risk on both sides," says the Irish, former Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Il Lombardia winner on his official X (Twitter) account. "If bad luck strikes or expectations not met, the teams cannot just not pay a rider. So if things go well, a rider can’t just leave a team because somebody is willing to pay more!"

Martin, who moved between numerous teams during his career, also raises another point via his social media. If Team Visma | Lease a Bike wanted Uijtdebroeks and BORA - hansgrohe wanted Primoz Roglic surely a deal could have been reached between the teams.

"Bora wanted to sign Roglic from Jumbo Visma and did. JV want Uijtdebroeks," the four-time Grand Tour stage winner explains. "Have to wonder why they didn’t leverage Roglic in this deal and instead have caused a load of disruption. Or maybe they did try, were told no and resorted to this."