Team Visma | Lease a Bike have had quite a lot of injuries and illnesses affect them over the years and one such affected rider was Cian Uijtdebroeks, who hasn’t often been able to deliver since joining the Dutch team. Whilst there’s no guarantee that the nightmare is finally behind the Belgian, his return to competition at the Clasica San Sebastian after almost four months could’ve hardly gotten any better.

The 22-year old has been affected by a nerve injury that saw him struggle last season and end his season prematurely with a withdrawal from the Vuelta a España. The issue raised concerns in Visma and throughout the winter the focus was on solving it before preparing for specific goals.

Whilst it seemed like initially this had worked as Uijtdebroeks rode a strong Tour of Oman, the back issue flared again and caused a feeling of numbness in his legs. He didn’t finish Tirreno-Adriatico and in the French one-day races he rode a month later it was clear that he was still not where he needed to be. Several months have passed in the meantime, he hadn’t raced since April.

But at the Basque classic, we saw the best Uijtdebroeks back to action. “I’ve had plenty of time to rebuild my fitness. The most important thing is that I’ve regained my old position on the bike. I feel like I have power again,” Uijtdebroeks said in an interview with Het Nieuwsblad.

Without the pressure in the one-day race, he was able to put in a strong performance on the steep climbs around San Sebastián and rode to ninth on the day. “This is very encouraging. At the beginning of the race, it was a bit of an adjustment: all those riders around me, learning how to position myself again. It took some energy, but I’m incredibly happy with what I achieved, especially on such a super-punchy course, which isn’t really my style. Maybe I’ll be able to do something in these kinds of races someday”. 

Uijtdebroeks should be leading Visma at the Tour de l’Ain next week but if he is able to maintain the consistency and not suffer from his injury further, then the Vuelta a España could still realistically be in his schedule for later in the month where the team will be backing up Jonas Vingegaard.