GCN Racing News Show: Inside the Uijtdebroeks transfer

This week in racing we learned that contracts in cycling might not be as ironclad as we thought. With the Cian Uijtdebroeks kerfuffle over the weekend, it seems that cycling is in a bit of a state of flux over contracts, deals and the ability for riders to change teams before the contract is up. Dan Lloyd is in the studio this week to break down that story and so much more on the GCN Racing News Show.

In terms of the Uijtdebroeks situation, the story started on Saturday when Jumbo-Visma announced that the young Belgian had signed with the team through 2027. Uijtdebroeks and Visma-Lease a Bike manager Richard Plugge both confirmed the news. Yet, in a strange twist of events, Bora-Hansgrohe said the opposite, putting out a statement that said, in no uncertain terms, that Uijtdebroeks would be riding for them in 2024.

Read more:

• Cian Uijtdebroeks terminated his contract with Bora-Hansgrohe but case is pending
• Cian Uijtdebroeks joins Chris Froome for training as Bora demand €1 million from Jumbo-Visma

As all of this unfolded on X (formerly Twitter), many of cycling’s stakeholders chimed in, with Cofidis manager Cédric Vasseur calling for Plugge to lose his post as president of the teams’ association (AIGCP), and Patrick Lefevere saying that Bora-Hansgrohe manager, Ralph Denk, was getting a taste of his own medicine.

While so much is still unknown, what we can say is the off-season just got a bit more exciting! We want to know what you think of the move. Let us know in the comments below!

In other racing news, this weekend saw the return of Wout van Aert to the cyclo-cross field and the Belgian delivered a crushing victory at the Exact Cross Essen on Saturday. On the women’s side, it was Marion Norbert Riberolle taking the win. Sunday marked the cyclo-cross foray into the snow of Val di Sole. Manon Bakker took a strong victory ahead of Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado in the women’s race, while Joris Nieuwenhuis won a wire-to-wire race in the men’s competition.

Lastly, Dan runs through a slew of recent rider transfers. As always, we have been covering all those stories and more on the website. You can check out all of the 2024 transfers here.

On GCN+ this week:

• Saturday, December 16 - Join us for X2O Herentals cyclo-cross where Tom Pidcock and Mathieu van der Poel will be competing for the first time this season
• Sunday, December 17 – World Cup cyclo-cross from Namur. This will be the last race we have coverage of on GCN+

Territory restrictions apply to live race coverage.