Thymen Arensman has a disadvantage at the Giro d'Italia, and its sitting in his rival's team cars

Thymen Arensman looks set to be fighting for a podium place at the Giro d'Italia, and in that battle the Netcompany INEOS rider faces some familiar rivals. Both Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) have a secret weapon against Arensman — and it's sitting in their team car.

Vingegaard and Arensman may not know each other especially well, but Gall rode alongside the Dutchman at Team DSM in 2020 and 2021. And who were the sports directors at the team during those years? Marc Reef and Luke Roberts — now sporting directors at Visma | Lease a Bike and Decathlon CMA CGM, respectively.

"And you can add Jai Hindley and Michael Storer to that list," Roberts stressed in conversation with In de Leiderstrui, referring to the leaders of Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe and Tudor. "All riders I worked with at DSM who are now high up in the general classification. It's interesting to see — these are guys I know well."

"For all of them, I know their strengths, but also their weaknesses. I've seen them develop and I've helped them along the way. It's useful information to have," the Australian smiled, as he targets a Giro podium with Gall. "Maybe it can give me a bit of extra information that I can use for Felix."

Reef, too, lit up when asked what he remembered from those 2020 and 2021 seasons at DSM. "I can still remember the very first conversations with Thymen and Felix from that time. During the 2016 or 2017 Tour de France, I had a long call with Felix to try to bring him into our development team. And it worked out in the end."

"With Thymen, we had a first meeting at the office in Deventer, which also led to a move," said Reef, who has particularly vivid memories of the 2020 Vuelta a España. "That was the first grand tour we did with Thymen, and he immediately showed that he had an enormous engine."

"We went against everyone's expectations by leaving the first three days completely open. Then we went fully on the attack with a young group. In the final mountain stage, we let Thymen ride with the GC contenders and he finished tenth. That showed what he was capable of. The Vuelta was perhaps the last time he was able to ride a grand tour in quite that way."

Where Roberts is confident he can still draw on his knowledge from 2020 and 2021, Reef is less sure. "Whether we can use that information in our situation, I don't know. Thymen is a rival, but I do still have the occasional brief word with him. It's great to see these guys all here."

From his position at Visma | Lease a Bike, Reef has kept a close eye on Arensman's development. "In recent years, Thymen has always found the first week a bit of a struggle — he'd sometimes dip a little. But, just like in 2020, he's always shown he can be up at the front in the third week. I know Thymen fairly well. Even as a young rider he was someone who asked questions, though he was always self-assured too. That's part of who he is as a rider."