Uijtdebroeks' bold GC attack falls short to Lecerf in Czech Tour thriller

Cian Uijtdebroeks has been through the mill over the last few seasons with injuries, and with the hype around the former Tour de l’Avenir winner, the pressure on the 22-year-old Belgian has been magnified. 

A 9th place finish at the Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa illustrated a potential return to form, and this was compounded by the Belgian’s performance on the final stage of the Tour de l’Ain where he won with a 50km solo effort having attacked on the Col du Grand Colombier. He sealed the general classification in the process, claiming the first professional victories of his career. 

This showing made Uijtdebroeks one of the pre-race favourites for the Czech Tour, where he was still in the mix for the general classification ahead of the final stage, sitting third, nine seconds behind compatriot Junior Lecerf (Soudal-QuickStep). 

Uijtdebroeks attacked on the final stage on Sunday, climbing the summit finish to Pustevny and he built up a handsome advantage of around 20 seconds over his fellow GC contenders, including race leader Lecerf. This advantage on the road looked to see him heading towards the top step of the GC podium and the stage win. 

“I think we can be very proud of how we rode as a team today,” said Uijtdebroeks in a Visma press release after the finish, explaining the game plan and paying compliments to his teammates. “From start to finish, we were always in control, took charge of the race, and laid our cards on the table in the finale. After the guys did a fantastic job preparing the way, it was up to me to try to finish it off and crack Lecerf.” 

However, in the closing kilometre, Uijtdebroeks began to wobble on the ropes as the climb had landed a significant blow on his legs, and he was caught with the finish line in sight and out-paced by Jannis Peter (Team Voralberg) who claimed the first professional victory of his career with an exceptional ride. Peter had shown promising signs with a ninth-place finish on stage 2, but success on Sunday marks a major moment in the career of the 24-year-old German.

“I didn’t look back once; I wanted to ride as hard as possible to the finish," said Uijtdebroeks. "At the end, my legs got heavy, and suddenly they came very fast from behind. That’s unfortunate, but I don’t think we can blame ourselves. This was the maximum we could get out of today."

Uijtdebroeks had to settle for second on the stage, and with Lecerf finishing on the same time in third, the Visma | Lease a Bike rider hadn’t done enough to usurp his compatriot. He instead moved up to second in the final GC as Alessandro Fancellu (Team UKYO) slipped to third. 

Despite coming agonisingly close, Uijtdebroeks remained in positive spirits after the race, with the knowledge and confidence that he can expand on his return to form. "We should be very proud of each other. We shaped the race and rode offensively in the mountain stages. Unfortunately, the course was just not tough enough for me."

For Lecerf, the Czech Tour marked the biggest individual success of his career, taking a stage win alongside the GC to add to his only previous professional victory that came over a year ago on a stage at the Tour du Rwanda.

"It was really hard, but I always believed in myself," explained Lecerf in a Soudal-QuickStep press release. 

"When things began heating up, I tried to stay in the wheel of Cian, but at one point I had some difficulties, and decided to go at my own pace in order not to explode, making sure I could always see him.

"In the last 500 metres, as we were making inroads into that gap, I used a bit the slipstream of the others and gave everything I had, and managed to finish on the podium and take the GC win. I am happy I will take home the yellow jersey! It’s been a great week for us and it will be a race I will always remember."