«I wonder how it is possible – he writes Brent Copeland on Twitter about the Uijtdebroeks case – which something like this could happen in our day, in our era and at the level of our sport, and yet we find ourselves facing exactly that. Is it greed? Despair? Or they are simply unaware of the future of the athletes and who is the person who actually pays the consequences of an unfortunate choice! Embarrassing is an understatement».
Team manager against
It is 8,58 on Saturday morning, when the team manager of the Team Jayco-AlUla Post this comment, inspired by an article on Cyclingnews. The British site summarizes the story linked to the announced transfer of the Belgian Cian Uijtdebroeks from Bora Hansgrohe to the Jumbo Visma.
The synthesis wants before the announcement of the Dutch team: the Belgian will be with them from January 1st. Then the braking of the German team, according to which the rider is under contract for another year. So there is the position taken by his agents through Alex Carera, according to which a procedure for the termination of the contract is underway.
«The agreement between Cian Uijtdebroeks and Bora-Hansgrohe – it reads – expired on December 1, 2023. Cian has already initiated legal proceedings and the UCI is aware of the termination of the agreementCian is confident about the outcome of the pending proceedings and will refrain from making further comments at this time (…)».
Raising of shields
And yet the passage does not leave the world of cycling indifferent. On the same social network (which is hard to call by its new name X), John Lelangue and Patrick Lefevere speak.
«It's a professional sport – writes the current director of the Tour Pologne in response to Copeland's post – it's business too, but Cycling needs UNITY among all the stakeholders and even more so among the teams that are competitors but also actors in the same storyUnity and mutual respect are the key to making our sport and our teams stronger."
«In my opinion – he writes the manager of Soudal-Quick Step - Cian Uijtdebroeks has a deal until the end of 2024He took Alex Carera as an agent, who was aware of the situation. The UCI must enforce its own rules. Only if all three parties agree, can a transfer be made with the authorization of the UCI.».
Between Roglic and Uijtdebroeks
Meanwhile, Wielerfits has leaked that, given the rider's desire to leave, Bora would have asked for a million of euros to Jumbo in the same way he had to pay to take RoglicAre these cases comparable?
The Slovenian who leaves Jumbo-Visma in October it is a 34-year-old rider who won three Vueltas and one Giro with the Dutch team (94 victories in total with that jersey)The investment has paid off handsomely.
When to leave instead is Uijtdebroeks, who is twenty years old and he “only” won the Tour de l'Avenir, it is understood that it is less easy to let it goThe team signed him at a very young age, investing in him. And just when he could start paying it forward, he's asking to terminate his contract, and in December at that.
There was some disagreement at the end of the seasonThe Vuelta controversy over being overtaken in the standings by leader Vlasov. And after the Nations Time Trial, the spare bike wasn't up to par with the first one. There are more serious issues underlying this, as the legal action cited by Carera would suggest., to request termination of the contract?
Contracts to be respected
It seems to partially review what is happening to Lorenzo Milesi, U23 time trial world champion and contract until 2025 with Team DSMWhen it was time to leave for the holidays, he was linked to Ineos Grenadiers. His agent Giuseppe Acquadro seemed on the verge of making a deal, then something went wrong. and the negotiations fell through. At that point it was said that a deal was underway the attempt to bring him to Bora-Hansgrohe, where Uijtdebroeks' place was about to become available, but even on this front a veil of silence has fallen.
So, while It is rumoured that the Bergamo native has changed his agent given the situation., we had a doubt. The team that let him pass, bringing him from the devo team to the WorldTour, Will she be happy to hear that he's doing everything he can to leave? If he were to stay, what would their relationship be like? Shouldn't contracts be respected, barring any glaring breaches by the teams?
Uijtdebroeks will definitely go to Visma-Lease a Bike (the name of the current Jumbo-Visma from 2024) and it will all come down to a question of money. It will end like with Van Aert taken… by force by Verandas Willems-Crelan. Richard Plugge He knows how to do his job, even if his methods don't please everyone.
The moral of the story is that Contracts risk becoming worthless and at this rate fair play between teams will go to waste.If three team managers expose themselves so explicitly, it is clear that some unwritten rule has been brokenBut above all, it would be appropriate to involve twenty-year-olds in this, think about them and with a longer perspective. About what they still have to learn and what they'll get in return from all this. And we're not talking about money.
