"One of the toughest time trials of my life” - Cian Uijtdebroeks content with ITT performance, limiting losses at Giro d'Italia

Not renowned for his time-trial skills, Cian Uijtdebroeks has been working hard on his ability against the clock recently. Despite passing on the White Jersey to Luke Plapp, the Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider limited losses to strengthen his place in the top-10.

“Light riders like me did not have an advantage in the first part,” Uijtdebroeks reflected post-stage in a Team Visma | Lease a Bike press release. “I knew beforehand that I would lose time there on other fast guys. That was factored in. I went deep today and gave it my all. I notice I have already made a lot of progression compared to last year in time trialling.”

Although the Belgian did lose the White Jersey for Best Young Rider to Luke Plapp, Uijtdebroeks now sits 7th overall, just 8 seconds down on the Australian of Team Jayco AlUla. “It was definitely one of the toughest time trials of my life,” the 21-year-old admits. “It's almost an hour-long ride against the clock. But I think we managed well."

"We can be satisfied with the result and it's not a disaster that we lost that white jersey. In the high mountains I will continue to give it my all for a good general classification, and therefore also for the young riders classification," he concludes. "We emptied the tank today and managed to limit the loss.”