"If you’re always going to ride against Pogacar, it’s not going to work" - Cian Uijtdebroeks focuses on smaller races and getting the winning feel in 2025
Cycling
Cian Uijtdebroeks was one of the biggest Grand Tour prospects in the peloton and at the end of the 2023 season he was in the spotlight of a shocking transfer between the BORA team and Team Visma | Lease a Bike, with a contract breaking involved. However his first season was cursed with an injury, and in 2025 the Belgian is looking to get back to his level and gain confidence through victories.
It was a year where he was nowhere near the consistency he had shown in the past, and struggled in many races. "... It got worse and worse, to the point where I had no feeling in my legs anymore. The first thing you start thinking is: no blood flow, so maybe there's something wrong with the femoral artery. But in the end, we did scans after the Vuelta and then we saw on the MRI scans that there was a pinched nerve," Uijtdebroeks shared with Wielerflits in Oman.
The entire year was virtually a miss in terms of results, and it hampered his career. But now fully aware and working on the health problem for some months, the 21-year old is looking to show what he is capable of doing.
"I wanted to make a step up from my performance at BORA-hansgrohe in 2023. Last year we noticed in the training that the level was definitely there. What's more, we were even able to improve my VO2 Max," he admits. "We saw positive signals, but in competitions it went wrong. I always collapsed somehow, without my heart rate being really high. Then it was not easy mentally. After that I needed some time to mentally reset".
With Visma packing leaders left and right, Uijtdebroeks will follow a more secondary calendar, where he hopes to take his first pro win, but also be in the fight for wins and get his confidence up. He starts his season as a leader at the Tour of Oman, where he will be a contender for the overall win against the likes of Adam Yates and David Gaudu.
“That’s true. If you’re always going to ride against Pogacar, it’s not going to work, right. That’s why I’m also going to ride some smaller races. Like some one-day races in France that finish on a hill. Those are just races where I get 'carte blanche' and can experiment," he explains. "That story of learning to win is a combination of choosing races and showing courage for me.”
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- Exactly, my thought too. Ganna is multi-talented, but a great descender he is not. He was gapped and overtook on the descend by Pidcock last year.
KerisVroom22-03-2025 - You nailed it Mr S.Cyclingsbestfan22-03-2025
- Now everybody knows about it Mads! Compressed brocoli? I know it is supposed to be good for you, but is high on my list of least favourite vegetablesCyclingsbestfan22-03-2025
- Again Armstrong posts get so much more response than any other posts on this site, and it is you guys that are making it easy for them to post more about Armstrong. Just check over the last 6 months and you will see the response is over 10x over other posts. Stop complaining and do not post or hit the like button, you are playing right into there hands.
Senna196022-03-2025 - i realize that Tommy knows VOLUMES more about his craft than i do, and i realize he maybe wasn’t bothering to give the most highly thought out answers of all time here, BUT… if mathieu gets to the TOP of the poggio first, how exactly is it that GANNA gets to the BOTTOM ahead of him? maybe the “frame pump in the spokes” trick from Breaking Away? ganna isn’t exactly what you’d call a gifted descender, and i’ve noticed mvdp is a PRETTY DECENT bike handler at any speed, not too shabby at cornering and accelerating… I’m glad tom feels good, though. it’ll be a really fun race. (but if van der poel DOES get to the top first, it’s over.)OCexile21-03-2025
- Don't think patience is something Tadej understands, he'll go when he feels its right to goslappers6621-03-2025
- And the final answer is …….MAYBE!mobk21-03-2025
- Agreed. Am Slovenian but she's strange rider, either the terrain fully suits her and she can be a leader or she's completely useless riding at the backvappaxbipmv21-03-2025
- My thoughts as well. The constant insertion of Armstrong, Bruyneel and even Hincrapie into news stories tends to give it away.
ScottG21-03-2025 - just because others were doping doesn't really excuse what LA was doing, especially how ruthless he was towards others. Can we just stop listening to him and his pals already?Crashjames21-03-2025