For two years, Henri Uhlig had been working in the Alpecin-Deceuninck development team with the aim of eventually securing a professional contract with the Belgian team. After performances that impressed the team, this dream came true for the 2024 season and Uhlig was determined to make the most of it.
After successfully completing his police training the previous year, the Regensburg native was able to train throughout the winter. And this was already noticeable in his first race as a professional. At the Tour of Antalya (2.1), he rode into the mountain jersey on the first stage, and on the second stage he sprinted out of a reduced field to third place after his team-mate Jensen Plowright, for whom he had organised the lead-out the day before, did not make it over the mountain with the leaders.
Uhlig impresses at one-day races in Belgium and the Netherlands in March
After Uhlig had shown himself to be a breakaway rider on the last day of his first World Tour race, the UAE Tour, he had acquired a taste for it. The following week, the Grand Prix Criquielion (1.1) in Belgium was on the agenda. Together with multiple U23 time trial world champion Alec Segaert, Uhlig was alone in front of the peloton shortly before the end of the race. While the German's legs gave out after an attack in the finale and the peloton sped past him, Segaert saved himself to cross the finish line as the winner.
One day later, the Grand Prix Jean-Pierre Monsere (1.1) was the next event on the programme. In Roeselare, Uhlig finished seventh after a few steep climbs and cobblestone passages, making him the best of his team - always a success, especially on classic terrain in a team that specialises in it.
Things went even better at the Volta NXT Classic (1.1) in the Netherlands. The race, which was again peppered with several steep climbs, was a complete success for Alpecin-Deceuninck. While Uhlig led a small chasing group to the finish in third place, which he had only joined during the course of the day, his team-mate Timo Kielich, also a neo-professionalsecure victory.
After a successful experience in Turkey, things went downhill
This marked the end of a strong March for the now 23-year-old, which was followed by a good April. After a short break from racing, Uhlig flew to the Bosporus for the Tour of Türkiye (2.Pro). After the team-mates went into the sprint on the first day with a flatter stage, Uhlig's hour struck a day later in the mountain finale. Behind Max Kanter, who took his first victory as a professional, the second German only narrowly missed out on his maiden win in second place.
Nevertheless, the rider from Regensburg was able to celebrate, as he took the lead in the overall standings and the corresponding jersey for one day. On the following two stages, he finished sixth and third.
In mid-May, Uhlig then travelled overseas with the Alpecin Devo team. However, the short trip to New York with his old mates proved to be fatal for the rest of the season. After the race, which he finished eleventh, "I woke up in New York with a sore throat, flew back overnight and had hoped to sleep there. Instead, I didn't sleep a wink and got really sick," he told the Mittelbayrische Zeitung. "It pulled the plug on me for three weeks, it felt like corona. I was exhausted and completely exhausted."
Uhlig slips from one illness to the next
However, this was just the beginning of the misery that would accompany him for almost the rest of the season. In order to collect a few competition kilometres, Uhlig took part in the German Championships just over a month later, but was unable to make any impact there. In July, he travelled around 40 hours to China for the Tour of Qinghai Lake (2.Pro). But without having ridden a single kilometre on his bike, he had to return home. Once again, Uhlig fell ill and had travelled all that way for nothing.
In order to build up his form again afterwards, Uhlig went to an altitude training camp with the Alpecin riders who were preparing for the Vuelta. He managed, "at some point I had good legs again," he told the Central Bavarian. And yet the training camp was not without its problems. He had a fall, albeit not a serious one. But it was still "the next slap in the face" for morale.
But luck would not return to the young German afterwards either. The planned flight to Brussels for his next race in Belgium was cancelled. "I really wanted to go and not cancel again," which meant that Uhlig got on the plane on race day itself and was at least able to take part.
Upward trend at the Deutschland Tour and German champion behind the Derny
Then came the Deutschland Tour (2.Pro). In the prologue, which Uhlig himself actually counts as one of his strengths, he was unable to impress. However, things went well the following day and he sprinted to fifth place. What followed was a stomach bug, but it cleared up in time for the final. Uhlig finished tenth, which was ultimately enough for 16th place and at least the label as the second-best German in the home tour.
The slight upward trend was then cancelled out by a crash at the Muur Classic Geraardsbergen (1.1). He had again contested the race for Alpecin's Devo team. Uhlig was not lucky, at least in the second part of his season. However, he definitely proved that he has the potential to hold his own in the professional ranks.
And he was also able to secure a small consolation in September. In September, Uhlig reclaimed the German championship title that he had already won once in 2021. He won the national derny championship on the track in Forst. "I'm obviously delighted to have won the derny championship again after three years away from the track. It was definitely worth getting the track bike out of the cellar again and dusting it off," he said after the race. Since switching to the Alpecin structures, his focus has been completely on the road.
