"With Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard I have two great examples" - Cian Uijtdebroeks looking to become Visma's next superstar Grand Tour leader

This time last year, Cian Uijtdebroeks was one of the most talked about riders in the peloton as his transfer to Team Visma | Lease a Bike and the controversy surrounding it caused headlines. It's fair to say though, the Belgian is now heading into 2025 a little more under the radar.

After an up and down debut season at Visma that saw Uijtdebroeks blighted by illness and injuries, the Belgian believes he is ready to kick on in 2025. "My smile is back. After that Vuelta, my smile was gone for a month. But now it's completely back," says the 21-year-old Belgian in conversation with Sporza ahead of the 2025 season.

One of the issues that gave Uijtdebroeks problems in 2024 was a consistent feeling of dead legs. Thankfully, he has now fixed that issue. "That worked. At first I thought it was the femoral artery, but there was a pinched nerve in my lower back and that was causing the pain," he says. "The team's medical team did a great job to clear this up and start treatment. I did a lot of strength training to strengthen my back and now I feel good again. I have found a body again that is capable of going all out. The difference is huge. Last year I felt that my physical capacities were there, but that pain blocked everything. When I wanted to stand up on the pedals, my legs would collapse."

Touted as a potential Grand Tour winner of the future, Uijtdebroeks urges patience and stresses a desire to target week long races beforehand. "If I want to win a Grand Tour in the long term, I have to win other races first. That's what we want to focus on this spring," he explains, with races such as the Tour of Oman, Tirreno-Adriatico, the Tour de Romandie, Tour of Slovenia and the Tour de Suisse on his calendar. "I have to try to fight for the victory there. I will be riding a lot, to try out a lot of things. Trial and error. How do you best use your team? How do you race offensively in the final? That kind of thing."

Given Visma's history of Grand Tour leaders, the 21-year-old is certainly in a good set up to grow. "With Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard I have two great examples," he notes. "I now have to take the step to become more of a finisher. Because the goal of the team and myself is to eventually compete for the podium in a grand tour, to even win. For that I have to take this next step."