More concern for Cian Uijtdebroeks as Visma star makes last minute withdrawal from Coppi e Bartali: “We are now discussing internally what we are going to do with his program"
Cycling
Cian Uijtdebroeks is really not enjoying the best period of his career. After a concerning end to the 2024 season saw the Belgian consistently plagued by a feeling of dead legs, there was hope 2025 might be different. But after being forced to abandon the recent Tirreno-Adriatico, Uijtdebroeks has now made a last minute withdrawal from Team Visma | Lease a Bike's Coppi e Bartali lineup, as a search for answers continues.
“Cian had a really hard time in the days after his withdrawal,” explains Team Visma | Lease a Bike DS Maarten Wynants, in conversation with Wielerflits. “But we are trying to stay calm. In Italy, Cian had a moment of emotion. We are trying to extract that and then look at the symptoms. Then we can make a diagnosis. We have to do it in the right order and only then draw our conclusions. And then act on it.”
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As mentioned, after first suffering the poor feeling in 2024, there was genuine hope that 2025 could be the year for Uijtdebroeks to really shine. These new setbacks are already casting serious doubt on that idea though. Nevertheless, Wynants and Visma aren't losing faith just yet, insisting they will find a solution to the issues Uijtdebroeks is battling.
“No, it is too simplistic to say that this has been for nothing. Research must show what the results will be, but that work is never for nothing. We are convinced that it will be fine. But how much time that will take depends on the diagnosis," explains Wynants of their work to find just such a solution. “Cian was of course super disappointed. We tried to be a listening ear. What are the symptoms? What does Cian feel? We certainly did not judge.”
“We are now discussing internally what we are going to do with his program," concludes the Visma DS, uncertain of what lies in the near future for Uijtdebroeks. "I cannot make any definitive statements about that yet.”
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- I saw the ending, the riders were all over the place trying to move up. It was only a matter of time till somebody crashed.abstractengineer27-03-2025
- My issue is that this site proactively solicits the commentary of one disgraced doper after another. It's like they can't find anyone who didn't leave the sport under a cloud of shame. I think I'm done with this site.critguy26-03-2025
- The finale of this race was an absolute mess, and the last crash that took out 1/2 of the field was caused when a double width road very suddenly funneled into a single lane, and riders had nowhere to go. I find it amazing how some of these courses get approved in the first place. So much for the UCI's campaign for improved rider safety, because if they actually cared, the organizers wouldn't have been allowed to run the finale on this parcours.
santiagobenites26-03-2025 - I hope Wout can come back. He has had 3 terrible crashes--not on par with Froome or Bernal, but at his level just a fraction of a percent is all that separates the grand champions of this new generation. Even if he is back all the way physically, those abrupt confrontations with pavement and mortality take a psychic toll, especially for a father of young kids.
Barney26-03-2025 - Everyone was so keen on free speech for a while, what happened ;-) But seriously, the problem is not so much that he gave his view as that someone follows it and spreads it, not totally unlike the schoolkids running US war games at present ;-)Mistermaumau26-03-2025
- We'll see what happens this year, hopefully he finds himself a little stronger.awp26-03-2025
- awp, the way and races he races, he probably doesn’t feel like he needs that many or specific race days before the Tour. His program isn’t very different from other years.Mistermaumau26-03-2025
- No, he just realises he’s not a one-day racer so why should he force himself?Mistermaumau26-03-2025
- Sacrificing E3 and G-W that were planned seems like he was hedging his options and only decided to do it after not winning MSR. Would he have planned to do all 5 and if so why hold back on announcing P-R if it wasn’t conditional? Guess people will get active with predictions now :-).Mistermaumau26-03-2025
- The MTB World title - there is no such thing. However, there are World titles in XCC, XCO, XCM, XCE, Enduro, Downhill......... He's after the World title in XCO, but could probably win the XCC title too, as his record is still better than anybody else, and he hasn't ridden an XCC World Cup since May 2021. Ten wins from twelve races says it all..... However, the XCO course is Crans-Montana is technical - he will surely need plenty of time back on the MTB, both training, and racing, otherwise it's going to be another doomed ambition.wipperman9526-03-2025