Arensman jumped with a large group and chased the lone leader Lennard Kämna on the final climb. The German was caught up, but Arensman had no answer to a counterattack by Hirt. Arensman fought back in the descending final kilometers, but stranded seven seconds behind the eventual winner. ,,I would have liked to have given the team a stage win. But I have to take the positive things from today with me.”
Arensman reached the top of the final climb fifteen seconds behind. In the last five kilometers in a descending line he made up for half of the deficit. “That’s who I am,” Arensman says at Eurosport. “I never give up and always do my best. I knew Hirt is not the best descender. It also started to rain, so I thought: maybe it’s still possible I kept fighting to the line and gave everything to the finish.”
In the end, Arensman finished second behind Intermarché’s 31-year-old Czech. ,,I first tried to crack it by going fully over my limit. Then he countered and I felt I had to ride at my own pace and think more like a time trialist. I hoped to close the gap in the descent, but unfortunately.”
In the final week, even more opportunities will follow for Arensman, who is now twelfth in the standings ten minutes behind Richard Carapaz. ,,Hopefully tomorrow I will get the space of the classification riders to attack a bit. I’ll be very honest: I don’t have any classification ambitions, so let me attack. Then I hope it will be a success.”