Sian Uitdebloks lined up with Leonard Kemna at the finish of stage 3 of the Tour of the Alps and hugged him when he realized that his teammate had taken the stage win from a breakaway group.

"Grande!" The two young Bora-Hansgrohe riders shared a moment of success together.

For the 18-year-old Belgian neo-pro, it was the first time a professional teammate had won a race. This was Kemna's fifth career win, but perhaps more special than his other victories, as he pointed to his own head as he celebrated his victory, showing his newfound mental strength.

Kemna would be away from World Tour racing for the second half of 2021, missing the Tour de France. His second win of the season, and the fact that he beat rivals like Andrei Amador, suggests that his career and life are back on track.

Like Tom Dumoulin, athletes before him, and a growing number of athletes in other sports, Kemna needed time to recover mentally and physically from the constant demands and expectations of the sport he had faced since his junior years.

Fortunately, Bora Hansgrohe supported the 25-year-old from Wedel in northern Germany, and he returned to racing in 2022.

"Last year was a great opportunity to get back into the rhythm of life and enjoy riding bikes again. Last year was a great opportunity for me to get back into the rhythm of my life and enjoy riding a bike again. I enjoyed it and I'm very happy that I did."

"Being away has helped me become more stable. You need to have passion and enjoyment for cycling, otherwise it's just a pain."

"I'm very happy to have been able to do it.

Kemna offered some simple advice to those in similar situations: "Everyone should take a break when they are on the edge of a cliff.

Kemna recovered from the cliff edge and rekindled his love of cycling by riding the 2021 Cape Epic mountain bike stage race in South Africa in October with Beulah Hansgrohe's teammate and former mountain bike racer Ben Zwiehoff. The pair finished in 21st place, but their enjoyment of cycling was more important than the result.

"Having the time off gave me the opportunity to train faster and rethink how I want to be as a rider," said the team leader. I'm glad I did." I had a good winter and now I'm happy to be able to race with my number on."

"I'm happy to be able to race with my number on.

Kemna is a junior time trial world champion and was second in the under-23 road race world championships in Bergen in 2017. He showed potential as a stage race and Grand Tour rider and was touted as the next German Tour de France winner.

He faced health issues and stepped down from cycling for the first time in 2018 and did the same in 2021.

Like Dumoulin, Kemna used the time away to reflect on his career and realized that he still loved bike racing and was ready to endure the sacrifice and suffering required to succeed.

He is set to join Wilco Kelderman, Emmanuel Buchmann, and Jai Hindley in Bora-Hansgrohe's powerful Giro d'Italia.

His stage win in the Tour of the Alps was a morale-boosting stepping stone for the race in Italy in May.

"I didn't know if I could win today, but I knew I had a chance. I knew I had a break day at the Tour of the Alps, but I knew it would be super hard to win."

"At the moment I'm not in great shape and I don't have the power to keep up with the best climbers. But I have an eye for the right moment in the race.