Feverish Movistar leader adamant about continuing at the Tour: 'If it becomes dangerous for the heart, I want to drop out'

It was the Lidl-Trek show on stage 4 of the Tour de France. The German-American team demonstrated their tactical nous, taking both the stage win and the green jersey for Mads Pedersen. Far away from the decisive breakaway of the day, another, far more worrying story has been playing out. Cian Uijtdebroeks, the Movistar GC hopeful, has been riding with a fever, and it’s caused great concern for his health.

The Movistar team leader has not had a happy start to his Tour de France. He struggled in the team time trial and lost a lot of time to his rivals. A day later, he was again not keeping up with the best: in Barcelona, ​​he finished seventeenth, 27 seconds behind winner Isaac Del Toro.

This meant that after two days, he was already facing a deficit of 2.20 minutes. And in the third stage, things were even more difficult. The opening phase was hilly, that much is certain. But while there were still about eighty men to be found in the peloton, the young Belgian had already had to let the pack go. Shouting to his teammates, he hoped to find help. That came a little later, and after things had calmed down somewhat, Uijtdebroeks was also able to make it back to the group.

But in the finale, he was dropped again. On the final climb, he lost contact with the rest of the favorites: he crossed the finish line in 27th place, a minute behind winner Tadej Pogacar. Teammate Pablo Castrillo kept the damage somewhat limited. The Belgian moved up slightly in the standings, but his deficit to the Slovenian was already a staggering 3.24 minutes.

A disappointment? 'If you aren't healthy, it's difficult. But I fought,' says an exhausted Uijtdebroeks to Het Laatste Nieuws after the finish line. The problem? Fever, it turns out. 'Since yesterday already. We'll see. Can I continue? I certainly hope so. Just seeing that I recover well now and keep everything under control, then we'll see.'

Uijtdebroeks is naturally gutted, because it is his first Tour de France, and immediately as team leader. That makes being sick feel even worse. 'I'm just not feeling well. I'm just a bit dizzy, so I want to get to the team bus as soon as possible.' Nevertheless, he has high hopes for a good recovery. 'Jonas rode the Giro with COVID as well, so it should be fine.'

Considering the circumstances, it is very impressive how Uijtdebroeks still managed to stay close to the favorites. 'I got through it, but when you have this, it drains a lot of energy. Given the circumstances I'm in, it's very good. It also explains what came before.' The Belgian still has a few days to recover: stage six crosses the Col du Tourmalet.

Team manager Jürgen Roelandts provides further details on his protégé's condition before the start of stage four. "He is struggling with gastroenteritis (stomach and intestinal inflammation) and diarrhea," he told Sporza. "In this heat, that is very detrimental. Cian has a fever, which is normal with that stomach and intestinal infection. It was 37.3 degrees. That is feverish, but certainly on the limit, yes. At 38.5 or 39 degrees, he wouldn't have started anyway."

It will therefore likely be a tough day for Uijtdebroeks. "It is on the limit. Cian certainly doesn't have a fever right now, because we measured his temperature just now. But at 40 degrees, it is difficult to keep his temperature down. If Cian drops after 2 kilometers, it is pointless. If he drops after 150 kilometers, then it isn't far off and that's that."

After stage four, in which he lost no extra time and finished in the peloton, Uijtdebroeks provided a new update. 'Yesterday, before the stage, they took me to the hospital to perform tests and investigate what it might be. It looks like it is a bacteria in the stomach. I trust that the medical staff knows what they are doing and knows that it is safe,' the Belgian told Sporza.

The Movistar rider was adamant: “The moment it becomes dangerous for the heart, I want to drop out. That is the last thing I want.” He had a really tough day on Monday. “Yesterday I rode with my jersey open the whole time. That wasn't by accident, but because my stomach was swollen. I had to open my jersey, because otherwise I couldn't breathe.”

And Tuesday in stage four? “This morning I thought: oh dear, that's going to be tough. It was good that a breakaway was away and that it was a bit quieter. This morning it wasn't fantastic yet, but throughout the day I started to feel better. Recovering at the Tour is not easy. We'll see how everything progresses; things are better at the finish line now than yesterday.”