"He should be seen at the forefront of the riders who can dominate the Grand Tours in the coming years" - Bernie Eisel rates Cian Uijtdebroeks incredibly highly

Whilst Remco Evenepoel is seen as the big GC hope of Belgian cycling, Cian Uijtdebroeks is another future star and has an arguably higher potential for Grand Tours according to his sports director at BORA - hansgrohe, Bernie Eisel.

"Everyone is looking for the next Tadej Pogacar or Jonas Vingegaard - and Cian showed what potential he has at the Vuelta," Eisel raves in conversation with Eurosport after the 20-year-old impressively finished 8th overall in the first Grand Tour of his career. "With his appearance there, he proved that he should be seen at the forefront of the riders who can dominate the Grand Tours in the coming years."

According to rumours currently circulating, Uijtdebroeks may potentially be on the way out of BORA - hansgrohe after a falling out with teammate Aleksandr Vlasov. This would be a great loss for the team according to Eisel.

"There was really no trouble, I can assure you, and we discussed the scene that some people mentioned on the way to the last mountain finish of the Vuelta together there after the stage. In this situation we wanted to get the race going with an attack from Aleks, but unfortunately the wrong people were following behind," Eisel explains. "We recognized his potential years ago, which is why we brought him into our youth team in 2021. I don't have any more information about the rumours than the journalists. But my latest statement is that he still has a contract with us next year. I spoke to him a lot at the Vuelta and I see him continuing to wear our jersey. But of course there are always conversations."