Thymen Arensman’s father lashes out at Ineos Grenadiers after Giro d’Italia disappointment

Before Thymen Arensman had even reached the finish of a disappointing stage 1 at the Giro d’Italia on Saturday afternoon, the Dutchman’s father Martijn Arensman had already made his anger clear on social media as he questioned the work of Ineos Grenadiers’ trainers leading into the race.

“The nicest thing about starting a GT is that no trainer can [s]crew up a cyclist form anymore for the next three weeks,” Arensman Sr wrote on X. “Hopefully it won’t be too screwed up for now.”

Arensman's father later hid his Twitter account from public viewing and reportedly deleted the post in question.

Arensman had headed into this year’s Giro as the British team’s co-leader alongside Geraint Thomas, no doubt keen to better his sixth-place finish from last year’s race. But those hopes were dealt a blow on stage 1 in Turin as the 24-year-old wilted under the pace-setting of UAE Team Emirates on the Colle Maddalena.

With the Emirati squad determined to tee up an attack by their leader Tadej Pogačar, the likes of Domen Novak and Mikkel Bjerg went to work on the front of the peloton. Somewhere in their rearview mirror, Arensman was dispatched from the pack with some 26km remaining and the final tricky but uncategorised climb still to come.

“I could see that he was at the back of the group when we hit the penultimate climb and I said on the radio that it looked like he was heading back a bit,” teammate Magnus Sheffield told GCN and another member of the media after the stage. “But I think Thymen is a fighter so he just needed to continue on his pace.”

To the Dutchman’s and seemingly his father’s displeasure, Arensman’s pace was not to prove sufficient as the rider grappled to regain contact with the front of the race. As Thomas and Filippo Ganna pressed on for Ineos Grenadiers, alongside would-be stage winner Jhonatan Narváez, Arensman dropped ever further adrift of the peloton.

Read more: Geraint Thomas shares his delight as Ineos Grenadiers’ secret pays off at Giro d’Italia

By the end of the stage, the climber had lost 2:17 to Pogačar and Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) - not to mention the pair’s respective time bonuses - and 2:07 to the large group that contained the likes of Thomas, Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) and Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale).

His head bowed as he reached the team bus, Arensman was too disappointed to complete his warm-down in front of the onlooking public and was instead ushered behind the closed door of the team bus. This was far from the start that the white jersey hopeful would have been dreaming of on the eve of the race but as it turns out, his struggles on the opening day had been anticipated by Ineos Grenadiers.

Arensman retains the confidence of his team

Whilst Arensman’s father decided to take to X and infer that Ineos Grenadiers’ trainers had “screwed up” his son’s form heading into the Giro, the team’s sports director Zak Dempster maintained a calm demeanour as he spoke with honesty to GCN at the team bus.

“To speak candidly, he didn’t feel where he wanted to be in Romandie,” revealed Dempster, before expressing his faith in the Dutchman’s ability over three weeks.

“But at the same time, we’re speaking about a 24-year-old kid who has never done a bad third week of a Grand Tour. He’s a sure thing for that, I think what’s important with him is that the team is around him now, we believe in him and we’ll get our arms around him to make sure he continues that process.”

In a similar vein, Thomas pointed to others who struggled on the tough opening stage in Turin and sought to look ahead to a brighter picture come the third week.

“We just heard on the radio and there was a few guys [dropped], it wasn’t just him, there was Bardet and it was just a solid pace. People react differently but when we get into that final week, it’s so so different with 15 days [of] racing in the legs and all this. I’ve got every confidence he’s going to be right up there.”

As alluded to by the Welshman, dsm-firmenich PostNL’s GC bid also stalled on stage 1, with Romain Bardet coming across the line 47 seconds down on Thomas and most of the key podium contenders. However, this time loss pales in comparison to the Dutchman’s and after Arensman Sr’s outburst on social media on Saturday afternoon, the British team will hope to block out the noise as they continue their assault on the final podium in Rome.

“At the end of the day, the best Grand Tour riders are able to ride that wave and get through to the key point that suits him. We have no doubts what Thymen is capable of and tonight he just needs an arm around him and we’ll enjoy the victory of Jonny,” Dempster concluded.

For all the positivity of Narváez’s victory and Thomas’ strong legs, the plight of Arensman threatens to leave a bitter aftertaste to what should otherwise have been a day of celebration.

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