"They didn't really believe in that" - Cian Uijtdebroeks succeeds in first Grand Tour despite team support elsewhere

Cian Uijtdebroeks has talked about how there was internal tension within BORA - hansgrohe with Aleksandr Vlasov. He tells as well how the team didn't believe he could fight for the overall classification all the way, in his debut Grand Tour.

“The final was still really difficult. And really explosive. I know that explosiveness is of an issue for me," Uijtdebroeks told Het Nieuwsblad. “I can go fast for an hour, but not for a short time. Thanks to Jan Hirt and Sergio Higuita, we really kept going strong, and thus we ensured that Joao Almeida would not come over me again.” The Belgian had a few tricky days in the Vuelta, a saddle sore briefly hampered him, but he's also suffered in some of the days with shorter ascents.

Yesterday was one of those cases. The 20-year old was the only main GC rider who missed the split once the pace was pushed in the final ascent of the day. He lost his seventh place to Aleksandr Vlasov, his teammate who he had said the previous day that wanted to overtake him in the GC. “The team also wanted to go for a classification with me, but they didn't really believe in that. Rather, it was the team strategy that Alex (Aleksandr Vlasov, ed.) would be the man. I tried, next to him, to do my best to stay at the front."

In his first time racing three weeks however, Uijtdebroeks raced as well as one could expect, specially in the high mountains. "I'm very happy to have stayed in the top ten. That's what I needed," he says. "That I could show the team and other teams that I have what it takes to ride at a consistent level for three weeks. We know my weaknesses: time trial and explosiveness. Those are things I really need to improve on. But those are things for the next few years. I am very happy with the result I achieved here.”