Almost without wanting it and certainly without specifically fighting for it, Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease A Bike) found himself back in the white jersey of the Giro d’Italia on Saturday, just 24 hours after he had ‘loaned’ the Best Young Rider’s (BYR) lead to Australia’s Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla).
Seventh on at the summit finish of Prati di Tivo and running fifth overall, the Belgian explained that his main goal in the Giro d’Italia is as good a GC finish as possible, rather than targeting the BYR rankings.
But he nonetheless welcomed the chance to be back in that classification again, while admitting that Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), one of the few GC riders to place an attack on stage 8, is also a serious contender.
Both Tiberi and Uijtdebroeks were outgunned by maglia rosa Tadej Pogačar at the finish. But rather than complain about the Slovenian for seizing as many wins as possible - as Pogačar said some riders have done - Uijtdebroeks said he had nothing but respect for the Giro leader’s keenness to go for victory after victory. “If I was in his position,” he said, “I’d do the same.”
Uijtdebroeks, in any case, had his own moment in the spotlight on Saturday, moving back into the lead of the BYR ranking that he already held from stages 2 through 6.
His predecessor in the top BYR sport, Plapp, had predicted on Saturday morning, that the Visma-Lease A BIke racer would be in the jersey by the end of the stage, and when the Australian lost contact with the other favourites at the foot of the Prati di Tivo, it was clear the Belgian had the opportunity to try to get it back.
“You never know, though Luke also came to me this [morning] and said the climb would be really hard for him. I also knew he was not the guy who'd go for the GC here, for three weeks,” Uijtdebroeks explained.
“I wasn’t thinking about the jersey on the stage though, because I was just focussed on getting as high as possible on the GC. But in the end, it’s really nice to have it.”
Uijtdebroeks agreed that he knew that Tiberi was going to try and wrest the jersey from his shoulders and with just 21 seconds between the two, the fight for white is very much an ongoing affair. Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) remains in the mix, too, given he is only 1:28 down on the Belgian, while Alex Baudin (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale), who held the BYR lead on stage 1, remains a distant threat at 2:32.
However, Tiberi is the most immediate danger, having attacked twice in the finale, something which later earned him praise from Pogačar, and as Uijtdebroeks put it “I knew Tiberi would try to go for it, and so in the end I covered it.”
“When it came to attacking it was not really the day for me though. It was a fast climb, Ineos still had two guys with Thomas and Arensman and UAE still had two guys with Majka and Tadej. So I knew they would likely go for the sprint.”
As for the rider who eventually won the uphill small group sprint on stage 8, Uijtdebroeks pointed out that such battles are never as clearcut as they might seem, given the climbing that’s come before. But he agreed that in the brief skirmishes that preceded the final dash for the line, even if Pogačar’s win was not set in stone, the writing was all but on the wall.
“You never know for sure, when I attacked with Tiberi then Tadej followed immediately so for sure I saw that he had good legs," said the Belgian.
“Then from the past you know he’s also really fast, plus he’s just super strong for the moment and when he sees a chance he always takes it. I would do the same if I had those legs.
“But in the end after Antonio had attacked several times, for me it was better to be more conservative.”
Uijtdebroeks underlined that while the white jersey was something of a bonus prize, it was one he was more than happy to take, as it proved to him - and the rest of the cycling world, you might add - that GC-wise after a week of ultra-hard fighting he remained very much in the right place at the right time.
“As I said, it wasn’t an immediate goal to get the jersey back today, but we fought well and it was a really important stage. You never know how you’ll be going after so many hard days, so I’m really happy still to be up there at the front.”
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