After building toward the Tour de France by delivering a result well inside the top ten at the Tour Auvergne - Rhône-Alpes, there was reason for Movistar to be hopeful that new signing Cian Uijtdebroeks was ready to deliver on his debut at the French Grand Tour. But the opening three days haven't been running to plan.
Firstly, Uijtdebroeks struggled on the final climb to Montjuïc in the heat of the opening team time trial, then he crossed the line 27 seconds behind the group of favourites on the second stage to Barcelona. Not only that, as the race entered the Pyrenees on Monday he conceded another minute to race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). That has left the 23-year-old who ended his contract with Visma-Lease a Bike in pursuit of Grand Tour opportunities in 19th overall at 3:24 back after just three stages.
