Remco Evenpoel’s Vuelta a España GC dreams may be up in smoke, but Belgian fans have another promising young home rider to cheer on as 20-year-old Cian Uijtdebroeks continues to turn in a superb GC performance in his first Grand Tour.
The 2022 Tour de l’Avenir winner is currently running ninth overall, with a fifth place on the Tourmalet, his undoubted high point to date, but his ambitions reach far higher than simply settling for a top 10 place in Madrid.
Despite nursing a saddle sore, Uijtdebroeks has bravely promised he will continue to try to attack in the third week, saying, “I am more the guy that wants to try than the guy who plays it safe.”
“For sure, for week 3, my body is still feeling good and fresh, so for sure, let’s see how we are after the rest day because that’s always also a question mark. But I just hope to feel the same as the last days and then - why not try?” he told reporters at the stage 15 start in Pamplona.
“I am more the guy that wants to try than the guy who plays it safe, and I have the legs. The thing which is not going to plan is that I have soreness in the saddle. So I hope to keep that under control, and we can go for it in the third week.”
Uijtdebroeks already put his money where his mouth was when he and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) were the only two riders to try and attack Jumbo-Visma on the ultra-difficult Col de Larrau on stage 14. “I liked the way Ayuso tried that because we have to try to eliminate Jumbo riders and, if we can, bring it down to a man-to-man fight,” he said.
The Angliru on the mid-week stage 17 is the next obvious hot spot of the Vuelta for such attacks, and although Uijtdebroeks has his own reservations about the climb, he is equally unwilling to let any chance to put in an attack go by.
“Angliru is definitely not the climb that I prefer the most. I like ones like the Tourmalet more because they are not so steep but longer and finish at over 2,000 metres.”
“But the Angliru is the hardest climb of the race, and on it, only your legs will count because it’s so hard. So it’ll be every man for himself, and we’ll see what we can do.”
Uijtdebroeks’ optimism is such that he says he feels that a top-ten finish overall in Madrid is possible, but more than anything else, he is satisfied with how he is performing in his maiden Grand Tour.
“I’ve seen a lot of guys getting dropped, so I’m happy my body is accepting it well because we don’t know because we didn’t do it.”
Meanwhile, Uijtdebroeks has nothing but admiration for Evenepoel and how his compatriot could turn things around.
For him, it was incredible how much time was lost in one day, but yesterday, he was again very strong, and that says a lot about him mentally that he was up there again. He didn’t completely lose the momentum completely, and I’m sure he’ll go for the polka dot jersey now.”
Despite the Tourmalet debacle, Uijtdebroeks remains confident, too, that Evenepoel could be the next Belgian winner of the Tour de France. “Nothing’s been lost. A Grand Tour is three weeks long, and so many things can happen. For sure, he can do it.”
