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

[Ilmaestro99]

Grateful to be part of such a fantastic community of medical experts

 

[theyoungest]

Nice job corelating my pretty mundane opinion on this issue with a "conspiracy theory".

So what was it when Vingegaard finished 6th on an MTF in Algarve last month? The end of the world? Nah. Just ups and downs of cycling. So don't act like it's a crime against logic and reason when Cian Uijtdebroaks finishes 46th in a Tirreno stage.

Sigh... I'm not equating it to a conspiracy theory. I'm just saying it's equally difficult to disprove, because it's impossible to put numbers on it. You can explain away every dip in performance by saying it's a mental problem.

 

[Divergence]

I think his current team is very bad for him. Probably he is quite reluctant to speak out after his ridiculous comments regarding RBH when he was leaving them. In general his current team is suitable only for riders with a certain character and imho him and Wout for example do not have that character.
In any case I believe we are going to see a resurgent Cian after he leaves the team.

 

[hrotha]

If there's an underlying physical issue then ok, that's always a possibility, but on the face of it there's nothing weird or unusual about a young rider regressing for any number of reasons

 

[Escarabajo]

But there has been young talents who didnt take the next step, for whatever reason.

We have many of those in Colombia. They regress once they cross the Atlantic!

 

[kingjr]

It's clear you think that it's all in his head. And like a conspiracy theory, that's pretty difficult to disprove. I find it quite hard to believe though that when you finished top-10 in a grand tour less than two years ago, now all of a sudden your maximum level is 46th on an uphill finish in Tirreno. Because (and I don't know how many times we have to say this) it's not about improving, it's about getting to the level he used to have! And right now he's not even close.

That there were flashes of hope for him in the Tour of Oman doesn't mean that if the problem flares up again it has to be some kind of mental issue.

There are probably also still people who believe Heath Ledger died because of his Joker role. It just sounds more interesting.

 

[Unchained]

I think his current team is very bad for him. Probably he is quite reluctant to speak out after his ridiculous comments regarding RBH when he was leaving them. In general his current team is suitable only for riders with a certain character and imho him and Wout for example do not have that character.
In any case I believe we are going to see a resurgent Cian after he leaves the team.

His current team are probably being mean to him!! Maybe they ran out of warm blankets, teddy bears and boxes of chocolates to give him to show inclusion, love,support and comfort. Poor little fella

 

[theyoungest]

I think his current team is very bad for him. Probably he is quite reluctant to speak out after his ridiculous comments regarding RBH when he was leaving them. In general his current team is suitable only for riders with a certain character and imho him and Wout for example do not have that character.
In any case I believe we are going to see a resurgent Cian after he leaves the team.

You mean the character of "disgusting rats"?

 

[Divergence]

You mean the character of "disgusting rats"?

Not necessarily, but certainly those.

 

[Extinction]

In sport it's actually really normal. More normal than you might think.

Forget Bora or whatever other 'deep' reason you seem to assign his 'haters' (aka an emotional negative label which doesn't exactly reflect the tenor of the conversation here) and what we're left with is a borderline stereotypical case of a young athlete who broke through early in the sport and is struggling to live up to the expectations he had of himself. Nothing more.

It happens in cycling, tennis, football, you name it. And what Uijtdebroeks is experiencing might not uniquely be seen as a 'regression', i.e. it could also be seen as a form of plateauing whereby the level he was at 2 years ago isn't so far removed from his current level (he did finish 5th in the recent Tour of Oman, FWIW, whereas he was 9th in the same race with Bora in 2023).

He simply isn't making the gains he wanted or expected at Visma and that could be eating away at him mentally. So when the racing gets tough, boom, he explodes in his head.

We've seen it all before.

Mens sana in corpora sana. When the mind breaks the body can't perform. The mental and physical stress at the World Tour level has become over the top, while at Visma it's even more exacerbated, seeking perfection in every aspect of performance. It's can break one.

 

[kn0s]

I think his current team is very bad for him. Probably he is quite reluctant to speak out after his ridiculous comments regarding RBH when he was leaving them. In general his current team is suitable only for riders with a certain character and imho him and Wout for example do not have that character.
In any case I believe we are going to see a resurgent Cian after he leaves the team.

Think you should call up Wout, that lifetime contract is not what he wants.

 

[Divergence]

Think you should call up Wout, that lifetime contract is not what he wants.

How do you know? A lifetime contract is probably more worth to him than winning.

 

[Gargamel35]

It's a perfect s*** storm for Cian. He got some nice results in Bora and then forced his way out to the best team in peloton. He was very vocal and basically lied to press so Bora got thrown under a bus and he got his wish.

What he did is, he made it very clear, he could be a much better rider with better equipment and personel then Bora had.

Now he's at Visma. In a spotlight. He has better personel, better equipment. And no results. He's at a team that didn't care about Roglič enough to keep him. He's at a team that didn't care about Vingegaard enough to stop him racing with concussion days ago. And those two are way way better riders then Cian will ever be. And they never complained as much as this guy. He's at a team that wants results and are desperate to get them.

And he's got none of that. No selling power, racing results or upward trajectory. And he's complaining about discomfort that no medical personel can diagnose. True or not, this is not a good position to be in.

 

[Berniece]

According to La Derniere Heure, Visma/Uijtdebroeks found a solution for his back problems that resulted in him not being able to push harder. They basically just raised his seat so that there's less pressure on his lower back where a lot of nerves are. He'll be racing again in Tour de Suisse.

 

[search]

good to see that they (maybe) found a solution, but that's three months without racing then...

 

[Berniece]

good to see that they (maybe) found a solution, but that's three months without racing then...

Normally he was going to ride Tour de Romandie before Tour de Suisse, but that's it. So they basically only removed that from his program. Maybe because Vingegaard will be riding it?

 

[AmRacer]

According to La Derniere Heure, Visma/Uijtdebroeks found a solution for his back problems that resulted in him not being able to push harder. They basically just raised his seat so that there's less pressure on his lower back where a lot of nerves are. He'll be racing again in Tour de Suisse.

@Froome style solution 😁

 

[Red Rick]

It seems strange to me that if the issue is as simple as saddle height it would take this long to figure out.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

It seems strange to me that if the issue is as simple as saddle height it would take this long to figure out.

Sometimes you miss the forest for the trees, especially if you have preconceptions that don't fit the issue. But I agree, it does seem strange, you'd think the position on the bike would be one of the first things to look at?!?

 

[Red Rick]

Sometimes you miss the forest for the trees, especially if you have preconceptions that don't fit the issue. But I agree, it does seem strange, you'd think the position on the bike would be one of the first things to look at?!?

I can sort of see that you don't check it because you just assume a WT rider has a good position. So it's probably more like you need to test the position under high stress before you find the issue.

 

[Netserk]

I can sort of see that you don't check it because you just assume a WT rider has a good position. So it's probably more like you need to test the position under high stress before you find the issue.

If it's not an issue in training or easier racing (like Oman), I guess it's easy to think it's solved when it isn't.

 

[search]

Normally he was going to ride Tour de Romandie before Tour de Suisse, but that's it. So they basically only removed that from his program. Maybe because Vingegaard will be riding it?

maybe, but the article says he is also skipping Doubs/Jura/Doubs this weekend, which he is on the provisional start list for (on PCS)

 

[CyclistAbi]

When switching teams one does usually switch equipment too and not all equipment is the same. At minimum it takes some getting used to.

 

[Cycling111]

According to La Derniere Heure, Visma/Uijtdebroeks found a solution for his back problems that resulted in him not being able to push harder. They basically just raised his seat so that there's less pressure on his lower back where a lot of nerves are. He'll be racing again in Tour de Suisse.

I hope he recovers, but it's strange that a two-year problem is solved by the seat.

 

[AmRacer]

I hope he recovers, but it's strange that a two-year problem is solved by the seat.

Froome tried it to no avail