Nine stages into the 2024 Giro d’Italia, after the early mountain stages, the gravel stage and the time trial, Cian Uijtdebroeks is still smiling.
The 21-year-old Belgian has survived the first block of racing, is fifth overall behind Tadej Pogačar, leads the best young rider competition and is wearing the white jersey. He has plenty to smile about.
Other riders channel their inner determination, feed off anger against someone else or take lots of caffeine to drive their ambitions. Uijtdebroeks is ambitious but prefers to smile at life, and the pain, and expectations of the Giro d’Italia.
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“I'm just enjoying riding my bike every day and trying to get the maximum out of it. That's what I like to do,” Uijtdebroeks told Cyclingnews and other media during the rest day in Naples after a relaxing morning ride with his Visam-Lease a Bike teammates near Naples.
“The smile is always there because I race without pressure, without worrying too much about what I need to do, I just try to enjoy it and have fun. I think that's the best way to achieve your dreams.”
By wearing the white jersey for most of the first week, Uijtdebroeks has spent time racing alongside Pogačar and even warming down shoulder to shoulder in the podium area as the Slovenian wins stages and pulls on the pink jersey.
Like most riders in the peloton, Uijtdebroeks admires Pogačar; there is no envy or anger toward his dominance.
“If somebody wins a lot there, there are always comments, but I think he's a guy who's still loved in the bunch,” Uijtdebroeks suggested.
“I think he's just so strong, the day of Prati di Tivo was probably more of a rest day for him, especially if you see what he did in the lead-out in the sprint in Naples. I don't know if he’s getting tired of it all, will see in the next two weeks.”
The rest day was a moment for Uijtdebroeks to look back at his own performance during the opening nine stages. He avoided major problems, sickness, crashes and bad days, giving him a sense of optimism.
“I'm really happy with the position where I am now, I surprised myself a bit,” he said.
“I thought I would lose more in the TT and have more difficulties on the gravel stage but I actually enjoyed it pretty much, we've survived it pretty well.
“We worked a lot in the last few months on my time trialling. I think we made some good progress, but it’ll take one or two years, maybe, to get that really, really perfect.”
Uijtdebroeks' next goal is to perform well on Tuesday’s mountain finish to Cusano Mutri, deep in central Italy. The sprint stages north along the Adriatic coast will be about recovery before Saturday’s Lake Garda time trial and then the climb high into the Alps over the steep Mortirolo and up to the finish in Livigno.
He leads Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) by just 21 seconds, and the Italian has emerged as Uijtdebroeks’ biggest rival for a place in the top five and the wire jersey. Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) is another danger, but Uijtdebroeks’ defence is simple.
“My strategy is to go every day as hard as possible,” he said. “If I am on the podium this Giro, then it would be really, really, really amazing.
“There is one man on another planet and behind the battle is open, so it’ll be a really nice fight. Top five would be a nice result but it’s still a long race, so I don't really look at numbers and the classification for the moment. I just look day by day and get the maximum out of it every day. I don't really put an extreme number or something on it. I just try to do my best every day.
“There is not really a big difference between competing for the GC and competing for the white jersey. I just try to get the maximum out of it, and then we’ll in the end, in Rome, if it's in white or not.”
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