Teams & Riders Cian Uijtdebroeks - From the wetlands to the top of cycling

[Samamba]

If the fraud continues stealing for a living, the team should unilaterally break the contract with him and cut him out.

So free money for Cian? Nice. What are you even on about.

felt bullied at times

Brother stop. Lame way from his management to get out of his contract, pretty obvious by now.

Again, he has that right in Belgium. And if you don’t feel welcome in a team why would you stay.

Also a pretty dumb argument ngl, it's not cause it's possible because of ridiculous Belgian law that it's a nice and fair thing to do.

Sports atletes making hundreds of thousands or even millions aren't normal people.

 

[Berniece]

Also a pretty dumb argument ngl, it's not cause it's possible because of ridiculous Belgian law that it's a nice and fair thing to do.

Sports atletes making hundreds of thousands or even millions aren't normal people.

Why would he stay if he doesn’t feel accepted in the team? Not even sure why people support the corporation instead of the employee here.

 

[will-10]

If the rider doesn't respect a contract, why should the team respect it?

Injuries and illness timelines and subsequent salary changes are pretty typical items in pro cycling contracts. I would doubt Cian is disrespecting/breaking contract at all currently, certainly after only six weeks out of racing.

 

[Netserk]

Injuries and illness timelines and subsequent salary changes are pretty typical items in pro cycling contracts. I would doubt Cian is disrespecting/breaking contract at all currently, certainly after only six weeks out of racing.

He had no respect whatsoever for his contract with Bora.

 

[noob]

The most obvious duck should be mental health. Would get you both either bullied or percieve it as bullying. Plus former l'avenir winner has that combo of unvincible cocky and hyped. What could possibly go wrong?

 

[Berniece]

The most obvious duck should be mental health. Would get you both either bullied or percieve it as bullying. Plus former l'avenir winner has that combo of unvincible cocky and hyped. What could possibly go wrong?

He was never cocky though. Always very down to earth and knew he had a long way to go.

 

[Unchained]

He was never cocky though. Always very down to earth and knew he had a long way to go.

Many things can be true at once.
Cian is and has been under misconception that anyone cares, even within his own team structure.
Pro racing is results driven and sometimes personality takes priority over performance. Not often ..Cian with all that he has put 2 teams through, 2 separate sets of teammates through turmoil, he just needs to race, get results. So it could be described as mental health or mental conditioning, but for certain there is a mental fitness component to his complicated situation. Bora was bad, long laundry list of issues, switched teams on goes on repeat,
Cian himself is only common factor.
He is only 22 and likely suffering from different treatment as a stand out junior and now people want him to grow up and shut up and work. Get along, flex himself to fit not the other way around. Someone needs to tell him ,let your legs do the talking nobody wants all the back and forth.
Multiple awesome riders have had major, major problems.. In cycling circles I don't think it would be hard to get Caleb's phone number or can't imagine Marcel Kittel could be that hard to track down. Both riders may have insight on mental pressures of pro racing. Jury still out on Sepp Kuss and Matteo Jorgenson, will they ride into leadership, but as they try they need support, Cian is taking up space, salary and strategy options. Guy is sinking his own ship in my opinion.

 

[Links2003]

Why is a young rider being beaten up like this? He is injured. It's not easy for him. It's not easy for the team. As bitter as it is, injuries are part of the sport.

At Bora he was always refreshing in interviews and laughing a lot. The end was of course sad. Nobody knows exactly what happened and whether anything happened. But Visma really wanted him. Instead of waiting until everything was sorted out with Bora, he was already officially with them. I think Cian was badly advised about how everything went.

After that, the pressure is of course even higher if you can't show anything athletically.

It would be terrible if Visma didn't support him in his situation. Especially as he can be a good rider when he's fit. I don't know if he can really win big races like everyone hopes. But even if not. You have to protect injured athletes. When he is healthy you can judge his performance.

 

[Samamba]

Why would he stay if he doesn’t feel accepted in the team? Not even sure why people support the corporation instead of the employee here.

Difference between not being "accepted" (whatever you mean by that) and getting bullied.

Cause he signed the contract. Funny that last sentence cause I also think Netserk made a dumb statement. Company can't just fire them either, they have to pay out their salary, just like rider has to if he wants to unilaterally break it, but his new team will always do that in reality. (Talented) riders are in that sense too protected, not the other way around.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Why is a young rider being beaten up like this? He is injured. It's not easy for him. It's not easy for the team. As bitter as it is, injuries are part of the sport.

Because sometimes you reap what you sow. I don't see many people happy he's injured or anything, but he earned himself, rightly or wrongly, a reputation as somebody who didn't care about who he hurt as long as he got paid, and so in turn he can't expect all quarters to react with compassion and sympathy when it's his turn to get hurt. They shouldn't be cheering him being injured, but I can see plenty of apathy and the Jeremy Clarkson "OH NO! Anyway..." meme posting being generated. After all, he shouldn't be too upset, since he's still getting what matters most to him: he's still getting paid.

 

[noob]

Does he have a bad agent?

 

[CyclistAbi]

They seem to rule out iliac artery problem and if remember correctly seat adjustment helped. As the problem with numb legs persist i do wonder if using his old gear. If that would change anything.

As for deserving such issues, AFAIK his crimes are of far lesser extent, for such punishment to be justified.

 

[Miss Violet Smith]

Does he have a bad agent?

Unless there has been a change, his agent is Alex Carera.

 

[Kwaremonster]

Very strange situation. Hard to judge whether it's a fysical problem or not. If they keep looking for different things that could be wrong I start to think it is a mental health thing. It all is taking too long really. At the same time he is still very young.

 

[Berniece]

After all, he shouldn't be too upset, since he's still getting what matters most to him: he's still getting paid.

So you don’t know him at all. It wasn’t about the money, it was about joining the best and most professional team that is able to get the most out of his career.

 

[Netserk]

So free money for Cian? Nice. What are you even on about.

He is unable to fulfil his contract, so the team should end it without paying him.

Unfortunately, there's no minor country in the EU with some BS law that allows the team to do that afaik, but by the UCI rules the team can cut his salary in half by the end of July?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

So you don’t know him at all. It wasn’t about the money, it was about joining the best and most professional team that is able to get the most out of his career.

Just like Lorena Wiebes, no? "The most out of his career" doesn't preclude breaking contracts for more money since, you know, it's a career. Hell , she's done it twice and insisted on a clause in her contract entitling her to do it again.

But of course you feel the most charitable interpretation is the correct one where Richard Plugge is involved.

 

[Berniece]

Just like Lorena Wiebes, no? "The most out of his career" doesn't preclude breaking contracts for more money since, you know, it's a career. Hell , she's done it twice and insisted on a clause in her contract entitling her to do it again.

But of course you feel the most charitable interpretation is the correct one where Richard Plugge is involved.

I don’t care about Plugge at all, I don’t even like Visma. Just because I support a change for cycling which I think is for the better doesn’t mean I follow Plugge in everything by default.

I do care about young cyclists being misinterpreted, and slandered for money hungry, when that’s not the case. In Belgium he got invited to panels, so with long interviews. Maybe we just have a better view on who he is as a person due to it. And it was always about getting better, having a long way to go, and wanting to grow as a rider. So it makes perfect sense that if you aren’t happy at Bora when it comes to that, and Visma is winning the TDF while being lauded as the best, you want a change to get the best out of your career.

There is a case to be made here should’ve waited until his contract was done, but I don’t believe for a second that it was about money.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I'm sure it is all about what's best for their playing careers when footballers find out Real Madrid or Manchester City want to sign them, and start refusing to play or train with their teammates in an attempt to force a move by the end of the transfer window too.

 

[theyoungest]

Because sometimes you reap what you sow. I don't see many people happy he's injured or anything, but he earned himself, rightly or wrongly, a reputation as somebody who didn't care about who he hurt as long as he got paid, and so in turn he can't expect all quarters to react with compassion and sympathy when it's his turn to get hurt. They shouldn't be cheering him being injured, but I can see plenty of apathy and the Jeremy Clarkson "OH NO! Anyway..." meme posting being generated. After all, he shouldn't be too upset, since he's still getting what matters most to him: he's still getting paid.

Maybe he has that "reputation" in an angry Anglophone cycling forum bubble, but in the real world he has a reputation of a slightly dorky guy who does great post race interviews. Just like nobody in the real world hates Sepp Kuss

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Maybe he has that "reputation" in an angry Anglophone cycling forum bubble, but in the real world he has a reputation of a slightly dorky guy who does great post race interviews. Just like nobody in the real world hates Sepp Kuss

Well, not doing anything worth remembering since the transfer does help people forget about it.

 

[Rackham]

On the topic of criticism of an athlete in pro sports, it sort of comes with the territory. It's a competitive field. Uijtdebroeks isn't competitive so kaboom, he gets criticized. I wouldn't read too much into it. It's just the way sport is (& it's reflective of how a lot of people consume sport, i.e. pitting athletes against each other).

He's hardly the only one either. Arnaud De Lie gets criticized as well, ditto riders like Fabio Jakobsen (who's been labelled a fraud and worse by quite a few for a couple of years now).

Rightly or wrongly, no amount of people saying "please don't criticize this athlete" will change anything either.

 

[Berniece]

I'm sure it is all about what's best for their playing careers when footballers find out Real Madrid or Manchester City want to sign them, and start refusing to play or train with their teammates in an attempt to force a move by the end of the transfer window too.

Not the same at all. Try again.

 

[Jan the Man]

Sport is a high performance environment.

You are well rewarded but criticism if you don't come to the perceived value will inevitably follow.

Happens in every sport - in this instance one has to judge whether for whatever reason he has fulfilled his value. Regrettably for him he has fallen well short of the mark so far. There may be valid reasons for those and I hope he sorts out whatever is causing the underlying issues preventing him reaching his potential.

What happened in his previous contract should be irrelevant to judging his performance under his new contract.

However it is inevitable narrative forms about people that is professional sport- much like a footballer who may move 5/6 times in a career as against a 'one club' player. He cannot control what people think about it.

 

[theyoungest]

On the topic of criticism of an athlete in pro sports, it sort of comes with the territory. It's a competitive field. Uijtdebroeks isn't competitive so kaboom, he gets criticized. I wouldn't read too much into it. It's just the way sport is (& it's reflective of how a lot of people consume sport, i.e. pitting athletes against each other).

He's hardly the only one either. Arnaud De Lie gets criticized as well, ditto riders like Fabio Jakobsen (who's been labelled a fraud and worse by quite a few for a couple of years now).

Rightly or wrongly, no amount of people saying "please don't criticize this athlete" will change anything either.

But in this case the perception really seems to be quite far removed from the actual personality of this guy. Maybe because a lot is lost in translation, I don't know, but Anglophone fans mainly seem to see him as a whiny little b.tch who will try to get out of his contract if he doesn't get exactly what he wants. I think if you regard him as someone slightly on the spectrum who was maybe stuck on a team with people not that sensitive to that kind of personality you would be closer to the truth.

Either way, I don't think any of that has to do with his current performance, which is just abysmal, and to me it has the characteristics of someone with the iliac artery problem that you see so often in cyclists: when the going really gets tough they just don't have that extra gear anymore. It wouldn't surprise me if eventually that is what it turns out to be, and the back problems or whatever he has are just compensation pain.