Arensman climbs to Paris-Nice podium but was concerned for Skjelmose after race-ending crash: "It looked really bad"

With just one day remaining in Paris-Nice, Thymen Arensman now sits in third place in the Race to the Sun. The INEOS Grenadiers rider finished alongside the other GC contenders in the shortened queen stage to Auron, allowing him to move past the withdrawn Mattias Skjelmose into a virtual podium spot in this WorldTour race. On Sunday, he will defend that position in and around Nice.

Arensman and INEOS Grenadiers have been performing well, not only in Paris-Nice but also in Tirreno-Adriatico. The Dutch rider has been steadily climbing the GC standings, making his way onto the podium step by step. On Friday’s echelon stage, INEOS took the initiative, setting up a move that Arensman capitalized on Saturday.

At the Auron summit finish, Arensman placed 13th, two spots behind his teammate Magnus Sheffield. The American remains strong in the GC, holding sixth place, while Norway’s Tobias Foss—who has been highly aggressive throughout the week—dropped three spots on Saturday and now sits ninth overall. Arensman is 1:20 behind race leader Matteo Jorgenson and trails second-place Florian Lipowitz by 43 seconds.

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Arensman feels for Skjelmose after his race-ending crash

"Paris-Nice is more like the Race to the Snow," Thymen Arensman joked on social media while reflecting on his stage. "I have to thank my teammates for the work they put in—hats off to them."

With just one stage remaining, Arensman now sits on the podium, but his thoughts were also with Mattias Skjelmose, who was forced to abandon the race. The Danish rider had been in third place before crashing over a traffic island. "I really feel for Mattias. I hope he's okay because it looked really bad after that crash—especially with the lack of warning signs for the road furniture."

Skjelmose remained on the ground for a while before being taken to the hospital. Fortunately, Lidl-Trek later confirmed that he suffered no fractures, though he required stitches on his elbow.

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