Dan Martin weighs in Cian Uijtdebroeks debate: "Riders need to understand and respect long term contracts are a risk on both sides"
CyclingTuesday, 12 December 2023 at 15:52
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."
claps 5visitors 4
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- These old men (dopers mostly) have no right. Just because nothing happens between the top two on GC doesn't mean that the stage is boring.
Llywelynglyndwr26-07-2025 - Vingegaard would've been able to out sprint Pogačar had they caught Arensman. For some reason, I've got a nagging feeling that UAE want to get their hands on Arensman (think back to Narváez in Il Giro 2024) despite him having a contract through to the end of 2027.Llywelynglyndwr26-07-2025
- Roglic won’t ride another Tour. I expect one more Vuelta then an announcement that he and Bora are ending the relationship.Renz26-07-2025
- He does realise he was gifted it no? Same with Ben O’Connor? Tadej is on strike! He’s taken all the criticism a bit personally…GZA26-07-2025
- Visma made this tour a borefest, they only had Tadej living in their head rent free, so much investment and their KPI is as long we can finish ahead of Pog, not seeing the forest for the tree. Such a let down, Pog went back to basics, protect his lead, not going for side quests of chalking stage wins, the title race was neutralised after Jonas lost in the first moutain stage.foothead26-07-2025
- Agree with a few comments. RE is a brilliant cyclist, no doubt. Despite having won a Grand Tour, and podiumed at the TDF, he really hasn’t shown he is a genuine GT rider. A one day, one week specialist? Absolutely and taking nothing away from that, why would you not focus on Lipowitz? Roglic rides for himself, also fair enough, however at 36 he probably won’t be at Red Bull Bora in 2026 regardless or not if RE arrives. RE has a strong diesel motor but seems to lack the explosiveness required uphill for a GT rider. IMHO, respect to all professional riders, they go where I never have and never could. Chapeau.Hawkeye5526-07-2025
- I was pleased to see Pog ride conservatively yesterday in order to protect the yellow jersey. If he had won the stage it wouldn't have changed anything - just helped commentators file copy. I hope we see more of this from Tadej in future because it will help him continue to amass wins. Visma and Jonas have embarrassed themselves this Tour. Constant messaging about how great Jonas is feeling and how the race isn't over yet, but once on the road there's no sign of risk-taking, courage or initiative. This is the one race Jonas targets each year. Pogacar shoes up out of obligation and wins it. Now who's GOAT?Renz26-07-2025
- agreed, he wasn’t going to give Jonas a chance at a winmij26-07-2025
- The 8 points Martinez was docked in the KOM battle seem ludicrously light in comparison to the 20 points for littering. Different points for sure, but the effect is supposed to be equally valid. In this case Martinez's violation was in direct competition for a major jersey, without the infraction he would never been in competition for the KOM jersey, so his punishment should be comparable to his crime, or else it's a race strategy to actively do this again. The littering thing is an error of unattention for a moment.Barry26-07-2025
- Just not quite as big as Remco’s balls cause those will slow you down on climbsmobk26-07-2025
Dan is a thoughtful and knowledgeable guy, but I'm not sure he's on target there. He does not likely know anything about what has happened at Bora, so it seems premature to be drawing larger conclusions about this situation or what it says about cycling as a whole. Maybe Cian is just a petulant young man who has no regard for honoring contracts, or, as we have heard rumors, maybe he was mistreated and is right to demand to be let out. Until we know more about that, there isn't much Dan or anyone else can say that isn't speculation.
He is wrong. Caleb Ewan was told to get lost by his team. A lot of riders that are leaving the team don't get major races to participate in. So Cian can move as long he pays the termination fee. He was already getting discriminated against. If he has evidence, Its against the EU laws. That's why they had the Bosman ruling
Riders are going to find one day that nobody wants to sign anything other than a one year contract if they all expect to break them at will.