There’s going to be no more looking back for Thymen Arensman. Not just because he has supercharged an already promising road career with a second, finely-taken Tour de France victory, but because looking back might have cost him dear at La Plagne.
The 25-year-old Ineos Grenadiers rider was speaking after taking victory on stage 19, the final big summit finish of the Tour, running from Albertville to La Plagne in the northern Alps.
Despite holding off the favourites by himself for several kilometres, the Dutchman was very nearly caught on the line, with Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard finishing just two seconds behind.
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In the final push to the finish, he’d looked round, seen them coming, and regretted it.
“Yeah, it’s not really needed – it can only distract you,” he said of his over-the-shoulder number. “I have the radio, and they told me it was more or less steady on 30 seconds. So I should just trust it and follow my instincts and just focus on the finish.
“Because I can’t influence the legs of the others,” he added. “I can only go as fast as possible, fighting against my own body. And that’s what you should do in that moment. Just look ahead, keep a nice cadence, keep a nice rhythm, and go all out for the finish. So that’s what I should have done.
“But in the end, I got away with it, and I made it. It makes me really proud.”
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Arensman won his first stage of the Tour only five days previously, and in a similar – albeit more comfortable – fashion at Superbagnères on stage 14.
On Friday’s stage 19, he took flight on the final climb to La Plagne, a rearing beast returning to the Tour after 23 years in exile. A 19km, 7.2% monster that was made all the more of an ordeal on Friday by incessant, heavy, cold rain. Arensman was followed first by yellow jersey Pogačar and Vingegaard (and only those two), but contrived to somehow shrug them off a few kilometres later, going it alone.
For a long time the gap stayed steadily between 20 and 30 seconds. But as the GC riders rushed for the finish in the final kilometres – with Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) riding hard to distance podium hopeful Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) – the gap to Arensman closed rapidly.
While they didn’t quite cross paths at the finish, Arensman was asked about his relationship with Pogačar, and took a moment to reminisce about times past and how far they’d both come.
“I think the first time I saw Tadej was at the Tour de l’Avenir in 2018 where we were first and second in the GC. And then I already saw he was a really special bike rider. But I didn’t really expect that he would be this good.
“It was really nice, as 18 and 19 year olds racing in the Tour de l’Avenir and now here at the Tour de France, him already two [sic] Tours de France and maybe a third one this year, and then for me two stage wins, that is really special, if I think back about those days, and now we’re here.”
The amount of riding Pogačar did on the front on today’s stage, pacing his GC rivals up the final climb in pursuit of Arensman, could only mean one thing – he wanted to win the stage.
A clearly very tired Pogačar admitted as much after the stage.
But there are two days left for him to make good on that intention, including that much talked about Paris finish. The Slovenian himself remained non-committal, but Arensman warned: “I can’t feel his legs, but I’m sure he wants to win another stage.”
That won’t worry the Dutchman too much though. His stage hunting is likely done. Whatever comes next for him though, you can bet he’s looking forward to it – and not back.