Arensman puts stage-hunting “back in the fridge”: “My strongest years are coming”

The Tour de France will always be a career highlight for Arensman, but this season he will once again set his sights on something else, just as he did in 2025. Whether he will even race the Tour is not yet certain. “I’m mainly focusing on the Giro,” he told NOS. “That keeps me busy enough, and then we’ll see. It’s up to the team.”

Those two stage wins were special, but Arensman’s real passion lies in general classification racing. That means he will go back to targeting the overall in the Giro d’Italia. “I think my strongest years are still to come,” he said. “That’s the perfect time to use those years to go for classifications. I hope to ride for another nine or ten years, and in the last few years I can always go stage-hunting like a Bauke or a Wout.”

In truth, those Tour stage victories also came as something of a surprise. The Dutch climber has never been a serial winner, but he has long been seen as a high-end Grand Tour prospect — with second place at the 2018 Tour de l’Avenir and three strong top-ten finishes in Grand Tours. “Last year I definitely could have ridden top five — maybe even for the podium — if I hadn’t got sick and if I hadn’t crashed,” Arensman reflected.

Arensman crashed in the sixteenth stage of the Giro d’Italia, when he was ninth overall — 3:45 down on Isaac del Toro and just over two minutes behind eventual winner Simon Yates. This year, he hopes to be in the mix with the very best again, but the Tour de France remains an option too. “I think both are possible. In recent years I’ve always done two Grand Tours,” he explained.

With Alpe d’Huez appearing twice in the 2026 Tour route, there is also a very Dutch “dessert” waiting in France. “But first you have to make it to the start line,” Arensman said. “It’s an iconic mountain for Dutch cycling. I used to go there with my parents. And I rode it when I was little as well — it’s an incredibly cool climb. It’s going to be a beautiful stage, whether I’m there or not.”

If he does start the Tour, would Arensman be team leader? INEOS Grenadiers appear to have strengthened their hand with the additions of Oscar Onley and Kévin Vauquelin, but Arensman is not worried. “I think we can only make each other stronger,” he said. “In the end, cycling is pretty simple — it’s about the legs. We usually don’t have the absolute top favourite, and that gives us a lot of chances and a lot of freedom.”

Above all, he does not want to load himself with pressure. “Like I said, I don’t take it too heavily,” Arensman concluded. “It’s just riding a bike. I do what I have to do, and I try to enjoy life and make the best of it. Right now it’s all manageable for me — but if next year I run into something and I’m no longer enjoying it, then I’d happily stop.”