Zonneveld sees "phenomenal transformation" in two-time stage winner Arensman: "This is much more than just winning stages"

The man himself was unaware of this achievement until Tom Dumoulin told him personally. “I never dared to dream this when we were sitting at my dining table talking,” Arensman told Dumoulin in the Avondetappe. “It's extraordinary.” Arensman visited Dumoulin last winter in Andorra, where Arensman now lives. The two talked about, among other things, the pressure you can experience as a GC rider.

"It helped me a lot," Arensman now believes after his stage win at La Plagne. “I try to get more enjoyment out of cycling, to put things into perspective. I just think: it's only cycling. I try to be happy besides cycling. Due to the stress and pressure I put on myself, I wasn't eating the right foods. And because of all the stress in my body, I gained several kilos. Now I eat more clean and listen to my body.”

It has helped the INEOS Grenadiers rider to manage his body better. "I'm very light, three or four kilos lighter than in the Giro. I started there at a good weight, but I experienced so much stress, and when you eat the wrong things... I know that my body doesn't react well to certain things, and then everything just bloats up. It's very tempting to eat Nutella and Haribo. I've tried to avoid that as much as possible now. I've said that I can have it after Paris."

So no treats for Arensman. "No, just boring food now. However, my weight remains stable, and my power remains high; apparently, it works for me. And I also feel better emotionally. You're not to blame for gaining weight. It's a small investment to refrain from eating certain things, but you get a lot in return."

Arensman also has an explanation for his unique approach to thinking, riding, and now winning. “I just have a different attitude. I tried hard to get into the lead group, creating opportunities and being creative. And now I thought, I'm going to try something different. And it's working.”

"But this is a different story," says Dumoulin, comparing the stage win at La Plagne with the stage win at Superbagnères. There, Arensman won from an early breakaway, at La Plagne from the group with the yellow jersey, with almost all the GC contenders. "I didn't know I could do that. I wasn't sure at the start of the climb either. When the attacks started, I thought all these guys were in the top five or ten. So I hoped they would let me ride. When I went for it, my legs felt pretty good, but two speedsters flew past me," Arensman said, referring to Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates-XRG) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike).

“But they're only human,” says the former history student. “I thought, guys, you have to keep an eye on each other for your GC. I'll keep trying, I've got nothing to lose. If I hit the wall and lose an hour, who cares?” concludes the two-time stage winner of this Tour.

In the podcast In De Waaier, Thijs Zonneveld is enthusiastic about the way Arensman has undergone a "transformation." "This is a different way of cycling. All of a sudden, he has to do something different. You suddenly saw a different rider in the race. Winning two stages in this Tour is so difficult. You can't just go from being a GC contender to a stage winner. People really underestimate that. They have become two different specialties."

Zonneveld elaborates. "To compete for stage wins, you have to be a lot more explosive than Arensman is. He can't win a sprint from a group, so he's not fast. He is skilled on the bike, though, because he comes from cyclo-cross. He does have good instincts when it comes to picking the right breakaway. So it's not a given that his qualities will win him stages. That's very difficult; you need to have something vicious and fierce and a killer instinct."

”This is much more than just winning stages,” the analyst continues. "This is about being at a crazy high level and using that to talk everyone else out of the race. He would normally just finish twelfth in the GC. Before his transformation, he won a stage in the Tour of Poland and in the Vuelta. This year, he tried to transform himself, raced more to win, and won after a solo breakaway in the Tour of the Alps and two stages in the Tour. Phenomenal."