Thymen Arensman on the Giro and the Tour: "Wout van Aert told me he was afraid they wouldn’t make it when I dropped out"

Arensman began the Giro in Albania with high hopes, but after a string of bad luck, he ended up finishing 29th. “Maybe the final result wasn’t what I wanted but the process, the learnings and most of all the valuable memories we made with the team along the way will last for a lifetime,” he wrote on social media after the race.

“I’ll take a lot of lessons from the grandtour, but also plenty of positives. Sometimes you can’t control everything, bad luck, an injury, health are always hard to control 100% in cycling. That is what makes cycling so hard and beautiful at the same time. This grandtour it didn’t work out for me personally but I am sure in the future it will. As always a big thanks to everyone at Ineos and my coach,” said Arensman.

From his home in Andorra, Thymen Arensman looked back on his Giro with AD, where he showed vulnerability during the opening weekend. “I’m human, not a robot. I have doubts, and I really wanted to perform well that first day. Then you can start to drive yourself a little crazy. The disappointment comes out, especially right after a time trial, when you’re exhausted,” he said.

During the gravel stage to Siena, he showed strong legs again. “Wout van Aert told me he was afraid the breakaway wouldn’t make it when I dropped out, because the pace had picked up with me in it. I had amazing legs. That only made it more frustrating when my chain got stuck in the derailleur. I think I could have come close to winning that stage, although in a stage like that, pretty much everyone has bad luck at some point.”

Later in the stage race, crashes derailed Arensman’s chances of a top result. But he quickly reset his mindset: the Tour de France is now calling. “It’s not 100% confirmed yet, but my coach has included it in my schedule. I really want to ride, it’s time for my first Tour de France. Not as a GC rider, but as a joker who can sometimes go for his own chances and sometimes support team leader Carlos Rodríguez.”

“A grand tour without the stress of riding for GC, that’s probably the healthiest option after a Giro like this. In the future, I definitely want to target the GC at the Tour, but there’s no rush. I’m still improving every year, getting closer to the top of the world. And Simon Yates showed in the Giro that if you have the level and keep giving everything, it’ll eventually come together,” Arensman concluded.