On March 10th, Cian Uijtdebroeks was confident he could be among the protagonists of Tirreno-Adriatico, proving that last year's problems were a distant memory. Everything went as planned in the first days of the race in Italy, but yesterday the young Belgian from Visma-Lease a Bike finished with a significant delay and his eyes were teary. With difficulty, he spoke to the press, telling them he had fallen back into the same nightmare as last year, admitting that something in his body was not functioning correctly. "This isn't normal, right?" The Belgian repeated this phrase through tears, with the look of someone experiencing a drama, referring to his physical condition and legs that couldn't push properly.

"I thought I had gotten rid of it, that I had solved everything, but today I again had that feeling of numbness in my legs," Uijtdebroeks explained yesterday. "This is the first time this year I've experienced the same symptoms I had last season. Something is wrong."

In 2024, Cian Uijtdebroeks joined Visma-Lease a Bike, and the Dutch team wanted to help him grow by gradually bringing him to major results. Cian is a young rider who can perform well in grand tours, but last year something started to go wrong, and his season ended on September 1st with an early withdrawal from the Vuelta a España.

"The same symptoms have returned and my heart rate was around 150 beats, which wasn't right. There's something wrong."

The Flemish rider was devastated yesterday after the finish line of the sixth stage of the Two Seas race and continued shaking his head, unable to fully explain what had happened during the race.

"I have no explanation for what happened to me, and there's not much I can do about it. This situation really sucks. I recognized the symptoms during the climb, and even now I feel like I can't move."

Last year, Visma-Lease a Bike had conducted numerous tests on the Belgian, and everything seemed resolved. Winter training went well, and during team training camps, no problems were identified. In 2025, Uijtdebroeks made his debut in February at the Muscat Classic and then continued racing, finishing fifth overall at the Tour of Oman and second in the young rider classification. He hasn't yet secured any victories, and his intention was to test himself to understand if the problems that plagued him last year were completely resolved. Unfortunately, the situation is not as hoped, and further investigations will need to be conducted to understand what is not functioning in this young rider, whom everyone considers one of the most promising cyclists for stage races. "We'll need to investigate and follow up with medical personnel. There are no other solutions."