Confidence rages within
Cian Uijtdebroeks. The Belgian climber is on his
Vuelta a Espana debut but is so far performing as high as it could've been expected of him, after a costly crash yesterday he still kept up with the very best on the Alto de Javalambre.
"It was a tough day. I was in a crash and I think I landed on my hip. I didn’t feel amazing afterwards, and I also had to take a spare bike. It happened at the worst moment as everyone was going fast after the break," the 20-year old said in a post-race interview. The start of the stage was very fast, and he had to spend significant amounts of energy to get back to the peloton afterwards.
"Initially I came back with Jonas, but the bunch was split. So we had to make our way up each group, which cost some energy. The rest of the day I tried to recover and feel better again."
Then on the Javalambre where the final action kicked off, he was part of the group with Jonas Vingegaard once Primoz Roglic attacked. "On the last climb, I gave what I had left in the legs."
However what he did have left was enough for a great ride. Out of the GC contenders he was fifth across the line only 14 seconds down on Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic. He gained time on Remco Evenepoel. "I think without the crash I’d have been a bit further up."
"But we’re still definitely in the battle in the next mountain stages and I’m ready to take them on," he concluded. He descended from 6th to 15th in the overall classification, much due to the colossal breakaway group which was successful and included plenty GC contenders. However with two thirds of the race remaining, there is little doubt that he will climb back up if he maintains his current level.
