What do Romain Bardet and Geraint Thomas have to say after Thymen Arensman's Tour de France stunt?

Arensman finished second in the 2018 Tour de l'Avenir behind Tadej Pogacar, but it took until 2021 for him to start his first professional season with Team DSM. At the time, Romain Bardet was the team's leader. The Frenchman took Arensman under his wing and rode a Giro and a Vuelta with his younger colleague during the two years that the youngster rode for the team, while they also achieved success together in the Tour of the Alps.

Bardet retired from active cycling after the most recent edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné, but is already present as a Eurosport analyst in the Tour. “Thymen was in a very good leading group, but there was no good cooperation because everyone had their own interests. Lenny Martinez, for example, rode at the front early on for his own benefit.”

“I think Thymen was initially riding a bit for Carlos Rodríguez's GC, but at a certain point there was some frustration because there wasn't good cooperation,” Bardet observed. “So he just went for it. He also really likes these conditions and can continue to push. He already achieved it in the Tour of the Alps, but now he has also done it at the highest level."

"If Tadej Pogacar had really gone all out, it could have been close. But at the same time, I knew that Thymen could maintain this pace for a long time," said Arensman's former teammate, who found a new mentor in Geraint Thomas after leaving DSM for INEOS Grenadiers. The Welshman rode several Giros with Arensman in recent seasons and was therefore delighted when he crossed the finish line in the fourteenth stage of the Tour.

"This victory has been a coming for a long time. Thymen works very hard and has had some ups and downs, but this is great for him and the team,“ said the Welshman on ITV. ”They didn't get much space because Nils Politt controlled well. But somehow Thymen managed to do it, and that takes some pressure off us as a team," said Thomas, who will retire in a few weeks.