Once again, Arensman suffers significant time loss in first mountain test, this time due to an old problem

Thymen Arensman had navigated the first days of the Tour of Burgos exceptionally well. The Dutch rider of INEOS Grenadiers avoided all crashes, setting up an excellent approach to the first mountain test on Wednesday. However, on the 11-kilometer-long Lagunas de Neila, Arensman fell behind early and finished only 35th, 1.44 minutes behind winner Sepp Kuss. "Overheated," he wrote as an explanation on his social media channels.

In the first two days, Arensman saw almost all the general classification riders crash at least once. Damiano Caruso and Tao Geoghegan Hart crashed badly in the major crash 35 kilometers from the finish on day two. They had to withdraw from the race. Other riders like Nairo Quintana and Valentin Paret-Peintre were also involved, and it later emerged that Sepp Kuss and Cian Uijtdebroeks of Visma | Lease a Bike had also gone down. Arensman, however, was spared from such incidents.

Through official channels, the 24-year-old Dutchman expressed relief that he had avoided losing time by being behind the crash in stage 2. He eventually rejoined the peloton five kilometers from the finish. All seemed well, so the disappointing result on day three was unexpected. "A tough day," INEOS posted on social media, and for good reason. Team leader Oliver Cookson had been positive beforehand: "It will be important for Thymen to manage his effort, as we know he can ride a good time trial," he said, looking ahead to Thursday's 18.5-kilometer flat time trial.

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Arensman faces time loss again

In the time trial, Arensman will need to close a considerable gap of 1.54 minutes if he still wants to deliver a solid general classification result. This situation is reminiscent of the Giro d'Italia, where he was the backup leader, behind Geraint Thomas. He eventually finished sixth, the same as in 2023, but lost a total of four minutes during the opening weekend in Turin and Oropa.

The heat is undoubtedly one of the factors that impacted his perfomance. While it wasn't particularly hot during the opening weekend of the Giro, it's 35 degrees in Burgos these days. Arensman struggled with the heat in the 2022 Giro, where he even became unwell after a time trial. A year later, the same happened in the sweltering opening time trial of the Giro. He also pointed to the high temperatures after disappointing performances in the 2023 Dutch Time Trial Championships and the Vuelta a España. Before this year's Giro, he said he had been working on this issue. "I now live in Andorra, I'm more used to it," he said at the time.

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Can Arensman turn the tide in the time trial?

After extending his contract with INEOS and following what he described as a "good reset and good training block", he came to Burgos with full confidence. But his legs did not cooperate in the first mountain stage. The hopeful quotes before the start now sound bitter after the significant time loss: "I’ve looked at the course, and it looks like it might suit me. The time trial in particular should suit me well, as I had good chronos in the Giro and have done some good sessions on the time trial bike. I’ll also do my best on the uphill finishes, as always."

Perhaps Thursday's time trial will indeed bring some positive results. It would be a welcome boost for him heading into the Vuelta a España. "I felt good during the stage and on the first climb, but the heat drained my power on the final climb. That’s disappointing, but it can happen. I did my best and kept fighting. Let's have a good time trial on Thursday," said a determined Arensman.