Former Tour de France winner Egan Bernal gifts Thymen Arensman podium place at the Giro: 'He deserves it'

Thymen Arensman (Netcompany INEOS) had another good day in the Giro d'Italia on Tuesday. The Dutchman finished with the best climbers in the race and is now third overall, which would be good enough for a final podium place in Rome on Sunday.

On the final climb to Carì, Arensman and his team-mate chose to ride at their own pace when Jonas Vingegaard attacked 6.5 kilometres from the finish. Bernal then sacrificed himself, but also did himself a favour by moving up to tenth overall.

"We know it is very hard to follow Jonas, so we chose to keep our own pace," said the 2019 Tour winner afterwards to Eurosport. "We knew what we had to do on the final climb. Thymen is an incredibly strong guy and he did very well".

Arensman himself did not speak after finishing fourth on the day, but Bernal, who was seventh on the stage, did. "We have already raced a lot together over the past few weeks, and I have said it before: Thymen is a huge young talent, with many good years ahead of him. I cannot wait to race with him more often".

Arensman is now third, but Jai Hindley — who is 33 seconds behind him — is still bidding for his place in the classification. "We have always believed in the podium and have focused on that all race, but we are keeping both feet on the ground. With ambition, of course, because Thymen deserves to be on the podium."

There are still two tough mountain stages to come in the Giro on Friday and Saturday, where Arensman can add extra shine to what is usually his strong third week. With Jai Hindley finishing strong on stage 16, Arensman will need a fully fit and motivated Bernal in his corner all the way to Rome.