Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease a Bike) has been left scratching his head over his string of disappointing performances, complaining of ‘numb legs’ after plummeting down the Vuelta a España standings on a comparatively innocuous stage 7.
In a stage received by Wout van Aert and teed up by the selfless defending champion Sepp Kuss, the shine was taken off the day for Visma-Lease a Bike as Uijtdebroeks suffered on the late climb of the Alto del 14% and went on to ship greater than eight minutes.
The 21-year-old expertise had began the day extra then seven minutes down on the shock chief Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R) however nonetheless within the common classification image at simply over two minutes down on Primož Roglič (Pink Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and one minute again from his co-leader, Kuss.
Nonetheless, when Roglič and his crew lit issues up on the category-2 climb deep into Friday’s stage, Uijtdebroeks shortly discovered himself going backwards.
“I trip as onerous as I can, my coronary heart charge isn’t on the restrict, however I nonetheless have a numb feeling in my legs and all the things simply blocks,” he advised Belgian broadcaster VTM after the stage.
This has develop into a well-recognized feeling for Uijtdebroeks, who has but to see lift-off in his Visma-Lease a Bike tenure that started along with his shocking and controversial swap from Bora-Hansgrohe final winter. The Belgian had dominated the junior circuit, received the Tour de l’Avenir in 2022, positioned within the prime 10 eventually yr’s Vuelta at his Grand Tour debut, and made a shiny sufficient begin in his first races for Visma this yr.
However issues have gone awry, with DNFs on the Volta a Catalunya and Giro d’Italia adopted by middling shows on the Tour de Suisse and Vuelta a Burgos, and now this first-week setback on the Vuelta.
“Now we have typically mentioned that it might be as a result of fatigue or this or that, nevertheless it can’t be that it retains coming again. It can’t be fatigue each time,” Uijtdebroeks continued.
“Till final yr I by no means had this. I’ve by no means skilled driving round with such a numb feeling. Even after I contact them, my legs really feel numb. I simply can’t do something anymore. That is not regular.
“On such a brief climb, I ought to be capable to sit far more on the entrance. If it occurs as soon as, it is not unhealthy, but when it occurs consistently, it is not enjoyable. I work actually onerous for it, nevertheless it’s like I am driving round with swollen legs that do not produce any energy. Now we have to look into what might be the reason for this.”
Uijtdebroeks’ 2024 Grand Tour ambitions have now veered off the rails, the potential he needed to discover by switching groups seemingly additional away than it was earlier than. He’ll help Kuss within the the rest of this Vuelta however his thoughts is already lurching in direction of the 2025 season.
“I’ll assist the fellows who’re doing nicely as greatest I can,” he mentioned. “We additionally need to look additional into the reason for this. We should strategy it otherwise for subsequent yr anyway.”
