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Cian Uijtdebroeks finished stage 4 of the Vuelta a España on Tuesday in tears, shrouded in bandages, and staring down the barrel of a second grand tour disaster in two months.
The 23-year-old was racing the Vuelta with a trauma to his ankle so bad he can barely walk. He had wounds all across his right leg and left arm.
“I can’t handle this pain anymore,” Uijtdebroeks wept when he reached the finish Tuesday, 28 minutes behind Tadej Pogačar’s race-killing move.
Initially, Movistar was planning to keep the young Belgian talent in the race.
Six weeks ago at the Tour de France, the team had kept Uijtdebroeks racing through a 40-degree fever. He was so sick he was receiving daily heart screenings.
He eventually spiraled downward to the point that he couldn’t continue.
Cycling is a sport of suffering, but cycling should also be a sport of sense.
Movistar thankfully saw clarity this time around.
The Spanish team made the right call Wednesday and ended Uijtdebroeks’ suffering by pulling him from the Vuelta a España.
“It has been confirmed that the injury resulting from the crash during the 2nd stage is more extensive than initially estimated,” the team wrote Wednesday morning.
“We have decided that Cian should withdraw so he can begin his recovery as soon as possible.”
‘Walking is difficult’ at the Vuelta a España
Uijtdebroeks should have had top-10 potential at the Vuelta a España.
The hotly-tipped Belgian talent had the best season of his career in 2025 with Visma-Lease a Bike and hit top-10s this year with Movistar at Volta a Catalunya and Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
Alongside Enric Mas, the born climber could have given the Vuelta’s home team a hefty 1-2 GC threat.
But he started the race underprepared and unfit, and hemorrhaged time as soon as stage 1.
If the writing wasn’t on the wall for Uijtdebroeks after the Monaco gran salida, it definitely was on stage 2.
He crashed hard and sustained what Movistar described as “a wound and abrasions to his right hip and knee, as well as to his left elbow and arm. He also sustained a trauma to his left ankle.”
The next day, Monday morning, Movistar shared videos of the chipper youngster limping around the team hotel, swathed in gauze.
“Walking is difficult, but fortunately I don’t have to walk,” he told Het Laatste Nieuws the next day, Tuesday. “At the moment, the doctors say I can carry on. Normally, it can’t really get any worse.”
The pain clearly wasn’t isolated to walking. Uijtdebroeks unraveled in Tuesday’s explosive stage across the roof of Andorra.
The question Tuesday was – why is he even in the race?
If he cannot walk properly, he’s probably cooked.
Mas might have moved up to podium contention on Tuesday’s 4th stage, but Uijtdebroeks wouldn’t be able to offer his teammate much help.
Movistar sidestepped the issue in its post-stage report Tuesday as it celebrated Mas’ move to third overall.
“Cian has again made an effort to complete the stage and reach the finish line, in a new display of courage in the face of the adversities that have crossed his path during this season,” the team wrote after he limped to the line, 28 minutes back .
Uijtdebroeks raced through a 40-degree fever at the Tour de France
That wasn’t the first time Uijtdebroeks and Movistar has been in the spotlight for their medical decisions this summer.
Uijtdebroeks revealed before the Vuelta a España to Het Nieuwsblad that the sickness he controversially raced through at the Tour de France was so significant he had insisted on daily heart screenings.
“I had a fever of 40 degrees,” Uijtdebroeks told Nieuwsblad. “I went to the hospital daily for check-ups. To see if there really was no risk to the heart.”
Contrastingly, Movistar had claimed during the Tour that Uijtdebroeks was riding at 37.3 degrees.
At the time, the news he was racing with any hint of a temperature blew up a storm in Belgian media. Warnings of long-term heart complications circled the press.
Uijtdebroeks told Het Nieuwsblad this week he had insisted to Movistar he would only continue if he knew he wasn’t at risk.
“They examined whether there was inflammation on the heart and performed ultrasounds. We did that several times during the Tour de France to ensure it remained safe. Because inflammation surrounding the heart is very dangerous,” Uijtdebroeks said.
“I am not a doctor, and I do not have the medical knowledge. But I clearly indicated that I did not want to take any risks.”
Uijtdebroeks ultimately got so sick at the Tour de France that he abandoned on stage 6.
Struggling to recover, he was subject to further heart checks in the following weeks.
“We checked my heart and looked at my blood values afterward to see when I could start training harder again,” he said. “But that took longer than expected.
“The plan was to ride the Clásica San Sebastián and the Vuelta a Burgos [before the Vuelta], but I wasn’t ready for it. Certainly not physically, and perhaps not mentally either.”
Uijtdebroeks didn’t race in the six weeks between him abandoning the Tour and lining up for the Vuelta’s opening TT last Saturday. It seemed strange he was even there.
The lack of preparation showed.
Uijtdebroeks’ GC prospects evaporated as soon as he lost 54 seconds in 9km in Monaco.
A disaster debut summer for Movisar
What next for Uijtdebroeks?
After signing to Movistar from Visma-Lease a Bike this winter, his debut summer with “The Blues” has been made a disaster.
He was allowed to persist longer than made sense at the Tour de France, and arguably shouldn’t even have started La Vuelta.
Fortunately, Movistar eventually made the right call this time around. Uijtdebroeks needs a break.
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