"Il Pellicano" Arensman impresses beyond national borders: "Maybe he belongs to 1% who speak to Pogacar after career"

Het Nieuwsblad hailed an unleashed leader. “Arensman was incredibly strong, never cracked, and stayed ahead of the favorites. In his very first Tour de France, he takes the biggest win of his career. The Dutchman had previously won a Vuelta stage at Sierra Nevada two years ago, but now he’s done it on the sport’s biggest stage as well.”

“The only crumbs Pogacar left in the Pyrenees were for Thymen Arensman,” wrote L’Équipe. “The Dutch climber put in a spectacular performance: he attacked on the Col de Peyresourde to drop his breakaway companions and held off the yellow jersey group all the way to the finish in Luchon-Superbagnères.”

According to the French, Pogacar himself played a part in making that possible. Before the stage, the Slovenian remarked that he wants to win as much as possible because “I probably won’t talk to 99 percent of the peloton after my career.” L’Équipe couldn’t resist a quip: “Arensman might just belong to the 1% who speak with ‘Pogi’ after his career ends.”

La Gazzetta dello Sport referred to him as Il Pellicano, a nod to the “Pelican of Deil”, a nickname for Arensman whose origin even he doesn’t quite know. “The Dutch rider, 1.92 meters tall, soared with his featherweight frame of 68 kilograms. He attacked at just the right moment and maintained a brilliant pace. The pelican has spread his wings in the kingdom of vultures,” wrote the Italian sports daily.

In Spain, AS noted that Arensman outshone his INEOS teammate Carlos Rodríguez, who was also part of the breakaway. “Arensman took the victory that should have gone to Rodríguez or to Tadej Pogacar. The Dutchman from INEOS, who had spent the entire Tour-including this stage-working for the Spanish rider, had stronger legs than his theoretical team leader and completed a performance that was both painful and prestigious on a classic Pyrenean route: Tourmalet, Aspin, Peyresourde, and Superbagnères. A string of mountains that echoes with Tour history, with cycling history... and now Arensman is part of it.”