Had circumstances been different, Cian Uijtdebroeks may have been looking to stage 4 at the Vuelta a España as one where he would be near the front, though instead of duelling with key rivals on the home roads of Andorra, or being on hand to support the efforts of team leader Enric Mas, the only battle the Movistar rider was involved in was the one to beat the time cut.
A crash on stage two made it clear that the torturous Grand Tour run wasn't over for the rider who broke his contract with Visma-Lease a Bike to go to Movistar so he could take his chances at the key three-week events.
The team medical report after that stage outlined that the outcome was a number of wounds and abrasions, along with trauma to his left ankle. Still, despite a severe limp off the bike and heavy bandaging, the rider has been on the start line the last two stages.
The hail may have bought an early end to the misery of fighting through on stage 3, introducing an altogether different type of trial. However, the toll of the prolonged battle on stage 4 was clear when the 23-year-old crossed the line last, in 182nd place, and more than 26 minutes behind race leader and stage winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
"I cannot feel the pain anymore," expressed a spent and teary Uijtdebroeks, who, judging by the look on his face, was not expressing an absence of it but instead the challenge of continuing to deal with its intensity.
The Vuelta may be a place with plenty of good memories from his Grand Tour debut in 2023, when the young rider put himself on the map as an overall contender by coming eighth overall, but this may be a year at the race he'd rather forget as he tries to salvage whatever he can after the crash.
"You have given everything to finish the stage, in a very difficult year for you, in which, when bad luck has not crossed your path, you have shown what you are capable of," said Movistar in a social media post where they expressed the team's pride in his fighting effort.
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The Vuelta a España is the second Grand Tour for Uijtdebroeks since moving to Movistar the year and he has already had to walk away from the Tour de France, withdrawing on stage 6 on the Col du Tourmalet as stomach issues and a fever ended his run.
If Uijtdebroeks has to abandon another Grand Tour it will extend a challenging run of DNF's, with the Belgian yet to finish a three-week event since his 2023 Grand debut at the Vuelta.
Fortunately for his Movistar team, this time they have Mas high up in the overall. Stage 4 may have been a tough one for Uijtdebroeks but it was a successful one for his teammate, with Mas taking sixth on the day and moving up to third overall.
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Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg. Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.
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