What's next for Visma | Lease a Bike's unlucky Cian Uijtdebroeks? Team and rider take immediate action

Cian Uijtdebroeks did not finish Tirreno-Adriatico on Sunday. The Belgian from Visma | Lease a Bike started the Italian stage race with high ambitions, but during Saturday's queen stage, he had to deal with the numb feeling that had already affected his 2024 season. One day later, he was among the first riders to be dropped on the climb, and eventually, he abandoned the race.

Uijtdebroeks crossed the finish line in tears on Saturday. "This is the first time this year that I have had the same symptoms as last year. My heart rate was 150, but it didn't work. I had that numb feeling in my legs again, so it was a repeat of what I had last year. It just feels awful," he said after the sixth stage.

"I have no explanation for it, and there's not much I can do about it. It started on the final climb. If I touch my legs now, I can still feel it. I can't do anything; it's unbelievably annoying that this is happening again. I don't know what to do; we must look into it with the medical staff. I thought I was over it, but oh well.." was his response.

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Uijtdebroeks and Visma | Lease a Bike will investigate

One day later, Uijtdebroeks appeared at the start of the last stage, where he gave Het Nieuwsblad a little more explanation: "After the effort, I was already a bit more emotional, but now I have made sense of everything and have had a good consultation with the medical staff. The symptoms were similar, so we must build on that and continue the search."

Uijtdebroeks and his Visma | Lease a Bike team will start investigating immediately on Monday. "Of course, we will schedule further examinations, but I don't know exactly how or what yet. Normally, I return to Andorra after the Tirreno, but that can change quickly. My residence will remain in Andorra, of course, but I will have to be in Belgium occasionally to have some things investigated." In the end, he did not finish the final stage.

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Uijtdebroeks remains optimistic

After the queen stage, sports director Marc Reef indicated that everyone should remain calm and seems to have told his protégé the same thing. "I remain optimistic. There is no reason to panic. Of course, it's frustrating. That's normal for an athlete. You do everything you can and want to get the most out of it, and when your body says no, it's naturally quite annoying, but we will find a solution. It just takes some time, and I must accept that," says the Belgian.

"Good times are coming again, so I'm not worried about that. We will just have to weather the storm and find a solution with the team," says Uijtdebroeks, who thinks the problem may linger for a while. "It could possibly have an impact on my program for the coming weeks. Of course, there is no point in racing with a body that is not fit or capable of top performance."

Sports director Maarten Wynants said the same thing to Sporza afterward, although Uijtdebroek seemed to need encouragement. "His morale is at zero right now, that's normal," said sports director Maarten Wynants. "He didn't do well today either, so it's not all fun and games. His back is bothering him again, but it is difficult to pinpoint the problem. First, he must shake off this disappointment and look to the future."

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