Friday, May 3, 2024 at 8:32 AM
Interview Visma | In the upcoming Giro d’Italia, Lease a Bike is mainly going for stage victories with sprinter Olav Kooij. Other riders also get opportunities in the more difficult stages. One rider is given a different task and that is classification man Cian Uijtdebroeks. “I will mainly drive conservatively, waste as little energy as possible and then see what it is worth at the end,” he says at the press conference prior to the Giro. CyclingFlits was there.
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Uijtdebroeks started his season with a fifth place in O Gran Camiño and then finished sixth in Tirreno-Adriatico. A great start at Visma | Lease a Bike, but things went less well in the Tour of Catalonia. The 21-year-old climber left sick on the final day. However, he now feels fresh and strong again, he says. “After Catalonia I started rebuilding. I haven’t raced anymore, but that’s the way I prefer to work towards a Grand Tour. That’s how I did it last year in the run-up to the Vuelta.”
In that Vuelta – his first big tour – Uijtdebroeks finished eighth. What is his level now compared to then? “That’s always difficult to say. It remains to be seen how fresh you still are after three weeks, but I think we have done everything possible in terms of preparation to be good. I ride for a new team and the question is always how the body reacts to a certain approach. You then have to fine-tune that for the future. But I feel good and am looking forward to the Giro.”
Top ten
Visma | Lease a Bike is aiming for day success with various riders in the Giro d’Italia, but Uijtdebroeks himself focuses on the classification, he says. “That means I’m going to ride a little differently than the other guys. I’m mainly going to drive conservatively, waste as little energy as possible and then see what that’s worth in the end. I don’t think my goal of riding a classification will clash with the team’s ambitions to take stages. Many teams have combined this in the past, so I don’t see a big problem.”
Uijtdebroeks wants to go for ‘the best possible result’ in the Tour of Italy. “We will see what that result is after three weeks. The white sweater? You never know. That would be great, a dream. I see Thymen Arensman as the biggest favorite for the youth classification. But let’s start slowly and try to achieve a top ten ranking first.”
To win as many rides as possible, Visma | Lease a Bike has lined up several riders who can support sprinter Olav Kooij. However, the Dutch team also has forces in the Giro that can assist Uijtdebroeks uphill. “Attila (Valter, ed.) is here, Robert (Gesink, ed.) is here. We certainly have guys who can be there if needed. I don’t see a big problem there. And in the end it’s every man for himself on the final climbs. Then it is just a matter of following as long as possible.”
Time trials
The ranking in the upcoming Giro d’Italia will also be partly made up of the time trials. Uijtdebroeks has worked here in his first months at Visma | Lease a Bike worked hard on it, but it remains its weak point. “The time trials will be very important this Giro. For me this is a process. You cannot become a very good time trialist in three or four months. It will take one or two years to get me on that bike perfectly.”
“We have already worked hard in recent months on the cycling position and the flexibility of the body. I trained a lot on the time trial bike, with intervals in that position. So far we’ve done a good job. I hope I have already made a step compared to last year, but there is still a long way to go. That is why it is also nice to have two longer time trials to see where we are and see what needs to be improved. Because without competition you don’t have much data. This will be very interesting.”
