Uijtdebroeks remorseful after mistake in Tirreno finale, Visma | Lease a Bike strict: "If you want to be a classification rider..."

Visma | Lease a Bike breathed a sigh of relief on Friday after stage five of Tirreno-Adriatico. The Dutch team had seen Cian Uijtdebroeks navigate the first four days impressively, but in the crucial moments of stage five, the Belgian suddenly found himself on the wrong side of a split in the favorites’ group. While he managed to recover, the team pointed out a key learning moment to IDLProCycling.com.

Uijtdebroeks had stated earlier in the race that he was using stage races like Tirreno-Adriatico to prepare for a major step in 2025—aiming to compete seriously for general classifications and take on leadership roles. Friday was his first real test in that regard. In an incredibly tough finale filled with short climbs and steep descents, Uijtdebroeks had positioned himself well—until a sudden attack from Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) on the final kicker split the front group. Uijtdebroeks was caught out.

"I know exactly what happened—I was simply too far back on the climb, and a gap opened up," he admitted to this website afterward. "I had already made a move to the front earlier, but I should have done that a little later. Instead, I drifted back, and that’s when the split happened right in front of me. I had to close it, and I managed to do about 50% of it myself because I still had the power. I wasn’t completely at my limit, though on one of the last steep sections, I even threw away my bottle to save a bit of weight."

Read more below the photo.

Cian Uijtdebroeks in the Tirreno time trial on day 1

Uijtdebroeks lacks explosiveness, so positioning is crucial

The fact that both Cian Uijtdebroeks and Simon Yates managed to rejoin the front group and avoid losing time was a big boost. However, Uijtdebroeks acknowledged that he still struggles with explosiveness. “That remains a work in progress, for sure. These kinds of climbs, with flat-steep-flat-steep sections, don’t suit me well because they require a lot of punch. I really have to time my move correctly to get to the front, but today my timing was off. Saturday’s climb suits me much better.”

Team director Maarten Wynants agreed. “This is a learning moment for Cian. Friday’s uphill finish will be much easier for him—he can go all out until the line. These are the types of situations we put time and effort into, but he’s not the most explosive rider in the bunch, which makes it harder for him. We knew Ayuso, Pidcock, or even Van der Poel would attack on that final steep kicker, and that’s when everything stretches out.”

Read more below the photo.

Simon Yates shows improvement for Visma | Lease a Bike

While Visma | Lease a Bike was understanding of the situation, Wynants was also firm in his criticism of Uijtdebroeks and Yates. “Our guys could have made things much easier for themselves because we knew it was a technical descent. We also knew the group would split there, and if you're positioned just behind… Well, at least it came back together, so the damage was avoided. But these are key learning moments if you want to be a GC rider. Then you have to be at the front.”

From the team car, there was no yelling, as Wynants explained that there’s always some delay in relaying instructions. “By the time we see what’s happening, it has already happened. You just have to accept it and hope that some riders still want to bridge to the front group, causing the pace to ease a little. That’s what happened, so we got lucky.” And as for Simon Yates? After losing 31 seconds on stage three, he was in the mix this time. “He showed improvement, and that builds confidence. This is the first step for him—hopefully, he takes another one on Saturday.”

Bram van der Ploeg (Twitter: @BvdPloegg | email: [email protected])     

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