Thymen Arensman comes of age with queen stage victory at Sierra Nevada

Thymen Arensman comes of age with queen stage victory at Sierra Nevada

Thymen Arensman has been that far-from-rare rider, the leader in waiting, the ‘next big thing from [insert nation here]’ since he turned pro half way through 2020 and promptly took two top-10 finishes at the Vuelta a España in the same season. Two years later, the 22-year-old took his first Grand Tour victory on the queen stage of the 2022 Vuelta after leaving his breakaway companions behind.

The DSM rider was one of the 29 riders who forged a gap after a furious start to stage 15, and sitting 11th overall, he was a threat to the peloton and breakaway alike.

He’d tried to get in a breakaway earlier in the race but was called back into the peloton, then a jour sans in the stage 10 time trial saw him ship time, paving the way to another attack deeper in the race.

Arensman has proved before that he has the staying power for a three-week race, but the altitude finish at Sierra Nevada did not seem to align with the Dutchman’s attributes – born at sea level, after all – at least compared with some of his rivals in the breakaway like Richard Carapaz and Rigoberto Urán. Add to that the fact that Ben O’Connor’s AG2R-Citroën teammates had been sent forward to protect their leader’s position on GC, and Arensman really had to take the race into his own hands and do a lot of work on the climb to Sierra Nevada.

With Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) still half a minute up the road having attacked at the bottom of the climb, Arensman dispatched his remaining breakaway companions eight kilometres from the summit and ate hungrily into the gap, joining the fading Spaniard within a kilometre. The DSM rider then went solo just inside the last seven kilometres and stayed away to take his first road win and a second pro victory in as many months.

More to come…

La Vuelta ciclista a España (2.UWT) Martos → Sierra Nevada

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