'El nuevo jefe' Cian Uijtdebroeks explains misunderstanding: 'Don't know where it came from either'

Movistar has also outlined its plans for 2026 and an important role is reserved for newcomer Cian Uijtdebroeks. The Belgian who left Visma | Lease a Bike wants to perform the next four years on behalf of his new Spanish team and will be thrown into the dark next summer with his Tour debut, in Barcelona. At IDLProCycling he explained his plans.

Movistar usually presented its plans and ambitions for the upcoming cycling season just before Christmas at the headquarters of sponsor Telefonica in Madrid, but at the end of 2025, for the first time, it chose Valencia as the venue for its team presentation. That way, proud team boss Eusebio Unzué could also welcome more international press.

In front of the idyllic Palau de les Arts, the men and women of Movistar presented themselves for 2026, before being introduced to all the stakeholders in the building. In it, Uijtdebroeks - adorned as always with a big smile - was the shining centerpiece, along with leading men and women such as Ivan Romeo, Enric Mas, Marlen Reusser, Cat Ferguson and Paula Ostiz.

Ex-Tour winner Pedro Delgado spoke amicably, but in Spanish. The perfectly Dutch, English and French-speaking Uijtdebroeks still needs to work on the home language of his new team, so he answered in English when asked what his goals are for 2026.

'I will ride the Tour de France for the first time, but I want to get everything out of it right away,' explained Movistar's new leader. 'In addition, Itzulia Basque Cpuntry is an important race, for both the team and myself. And I will make my debut in the Walloon Classics, where I also want to reach a high level,' he told the podium.

There was an interview with Marca last week, in which Uijtdebroeks actually talked about the Giro and Vuelta as options. The Belgian laughs when we confront him with that. 'I also don't know where that came from or what went wrong. I said that the Giro and Tour were options, the Vuelta was never on the table," he explains the misunderstanding.

So why a Tour debut in the end and not the Giro? 'That has mainly to do with the course. In the Giro there is a long time trial and it is not an extremely hard edition, while in the Tour there is a lot of climbing. And I have to get a taste of it, right? It is the race where I want to show myself in the coming years," he said. But that doesn't mean I go there without ambition, certainly not. I want to show myself in the classification.'

Uijtdebroeks will make his debut for Movistar at the beginning of February in the Tour of Valencia. Afterwards, he will head to Paris-Nice for the month of April, which is important for him, with the Tour of the Basque Country, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, while altitude training is planned in between. Heading into the Tour, he will ride the Critérium du Dauphiné.

Tour of Valencia
Paris-Nice
Tour of the Basque Country
Flèche Wallonne
Liege-Bastogne-Liege
Critérium du Dauphiné
Tour de France