After a generally failed 2024 season, Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma | Lease a Bike) wants to refocus on week-long races and a few classics. Asked by RTBFthe young Belgian (21 years old) confirmed not to participate in the Tour of Italy and at Tour de France This year. Hampered by injuries and illnesses in 2024, Uijtdebroeks revealed that she did a lot of physical therapy to heal from a back problem.
Video – Jonas Vingegaard and Visma presented their objectives
“Learn to ride for victory…”
“I don'tI had no feeling in my legs when I rode for a long time in the passes, when I rode hard. It wasn't easy mentally because I didn't know what I had. In the end, tests showed that it all came from a back problem. We've been dealing with this for two months, I've done specific muscle exercises for the back, physiotherapy treatments and now I feel good on the bike again. My legs don't hurt anymore.” explained the climber.
Regarding his program, he should run more races and not to participate in Giro and at Tour. “The team wants to let me run a lot more races. A lot more week-long races especially. The idea is to face them with the objective of winning. We really want to focus on that: learning to ride for victory in these kinds of races rather than riding for a Top 10 in a Grand Tour.” Uijtdebroeks could, however, participate in The Return at the end of the year.
