Thymen Arensman attaches little value to his fifth place on Saturday in the queen stage of the Giro d’Italia. The Dutchman from Team DSM was even reluctantly in the leading group of the mountain stage, which was won by Alessandro Covi.
“It is very disappointing. I did not want to be in the leading group at all, because I had been thinking about tomorrow’s time trial for days,” said the 22-year-old Arensman shortly after the finish. Eurosport†
“The intention was to keep it going and then we would see. I’ll talk about it with the team. Did I waste too much energy? Yes, that seems logical to me if you are in the leading group. But we’ll see for the time trial. I can’t do more than my best.”
Arensman was not given the space in the leading group to drive away, where Covi did. The Italian then surprisingly took the stage victory. “I thought it was very strange,” said Arensman. “I’ve never won or proven anything in cycling. I had the feeling that everyone was looking at me in that leading group. As a result, Covi drove very far away from us.”
Joy with stage winner Alessandro Covi.
Joy with stage winner Alessandro Covi. Photo: AP
‘Fantastic to win in these mythical mountains’
Covi drove away from the rest on his own with more than 50 kilometers to go. “I attacked from afar because I’m not a climber,” he explained his early attack. “I did pretty well on the last climb. It’s fantastic for the team to win a stage and especially this one in the mythical mountains.”
Behind the leading group, Jai Hindley seized power in the battle in the general classification. The Australian accelerated on the final climb and rode Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz out of the pink jersey. Hindley is therefore almost certain of the overall victory in the Giro.
Hindley has a margin of 1.25 minutes on Carapaz in the final time trial in Verona on Sunday. The race against the clock is not too long with 17.4 kilometers.