The Pelican of Deil is his nickname. Thymen Arensman (22) has no idea what it means, let alone who ever invented it. The enigmatic predicate is not widely used. It sometimes returns on some cycling sites. Could it perhaps be his height (1.90 meters), which makes him stand out in the pack? Could it be the slightly pronounced mouth? Knocking is no longer an option: he now lives in Beesd, 3 kilometers as the crow flies from the place where he grew up. He’d rather get rid of it altogether.
If the creator wants to evoke an association with the myth of the self-sacrificing water bird that administers its own blood to the boy, that has now also been outdated. Arensman started Friday in Utrecht in the Vuelta as the leader of his team, DSM. It is others who will be driving in his service for the next three weeks.
His family name appears more and more frequently in cycling reports. It is the first time that he is fully aiming for the general classification in a Grand Tour, after two previous participations in Spain and the Giro d’Italia this spring. In the Tour of Poland, at the end of July, beginning of August, the debut was as a leader. He booked his first victory as a professional, in a climbing time trial. There was a second place in the final ranking.
Is he ready at 22? He is already building some reserves. ‘It will be a journey of discovery for me. I have never done it for three weeks, that is really a different experience than one week in Poland. I will certainly try not to lose time in the beginning. If it does, it’s not a disaster. Then I start doing things that I also like: attacking, trying to go for stage wins. I’m going to do my very best.’
strong spring
His trump card designation doesn’t come out of the blue. Arensman rode strong in the spring. In the Tirreno-Adriatico he measured forces with two-time Tour winner Tadej Pogacar and the later yellow jersey wearer on the Champs-Élysées Jonas Vingegaard. In the Giro d’Italia, after the failure of his leader Romain Bardet, he was close to a stage win a few times.
It doesn’t feel like a breakthrough to him. ‘I can imagine that the public thinks that way. I drove more into the picture. But last season I was mostly fighting for tenth place. That’s not what the cameras focus on. I see it more as a steady development.’
It is undeniable that he has risen by a considerable number of steps in a relatively short period of time. In his first Vuelta, in 2020, the Belgian Tim Wellens, with whom he was in a breakaway, still spoke to him in English; no idea who that young guy in the shirt of, then still, Sunweb, was. Now, he says himself, he is ‘almost well connected’ with the world’s best.
He sees his progression in the abilities he kicks. ‘They are not higher than last season, but I also reach the same level when I’m tired, after four or five hours of racing. That’s a huge difference. You never start fresh at a final at this level.’ He attributes it, among other things, to the winter in which he was able to train well and the intensive supervision of the team. And I’m another year older. Then you’re just a little stronger and a little wiser.’
So far, his career has largely followed the scenario he envisioned as a starting pro: it has to go step by step. Not like that of Pogacar, behind whom he finished second in the Tour of the Future in 2018 (‘you could already see that he was driving very fast’) and who was signed up by Team UAE Emirates a year later.
Arensman chose a more gradual path: ‘growing in the shade’, he puts it. He stayed with the SEG Racing Academy training team and also wanted to study history in Utrecht. He dropped out after two years of propaedeutic years. He failed to absorb the material, meet the deadlines for papers and in the meantime train and race. ‘I still regret it. But they are two full-time jobs. That combination was impossible.’
In fact, cycling has always been a search for his possibilities for him, from the first meters on a cross bike between the pylons that his grandfather set out for him on a lawn next to the parental home – cyclo-cross was his first love. The bicycle belongs to the furniture in his family. ‘My father and mother got to know each other while cycling, my sister cycled, uncles and aunts cycle, and so do nephews and nieces. My parents left me free to choose a sport, but I had to and would cycle. I’m the only one who turned pro.’
From raw talent to professional
He outlines his own findings in the process from ‘raw talent’ to ‘full cycling professional’. ‘When I was young, I noticed that I wasn’t super explosive, but that I could cycle very fast. And then hope no one was in my wheel. It was no different for the novices and juniors, until I set a fast time on a climb in Limburg once. I went to the Alpe d’Huez with my parents. That went well too. During my first international races with the promises, such as in the Tour d’Avenir, I found out that I could also compete at that level uphill and that time trial suited me. I also finished third in Paris-Roubaix that same year. Yes, if you add those qualities together – riding hard, climbing quite a bit, a good time trial – then it turns out that you can go for a classification.’
Setbacks are part of it: in the 2018-2019 season, he broke a collarbone three times. A year later it was discovered in Spain that he could take part in GC riders. Relativity follows in the same breath. ‘That is really different from being a leader. The mental load is great, you have to learn to deal with the pressure, be stress resistant, be alert all day long, manage teammates. There’s so much to it.’
Last season he learned a lot from Bardet, in whose service he rode in the Tour des Alpes (the Frenchman won, Arensman finished third) and the Giro d’Italia (Bardet gave up with stomach problems). “I spent ten weeks with him at training camp. Only then do you see what it takes to reach the level at which he acts. Always busy with his diet, consistently performing his exercises, often an extra half hour on the bike. I was able to experience up close how you work towards a Giro. That is anything but an easy task. It was inspiring to see how he interacts with others, how he coaches, compliments and motivates them. I have a lot of admiration for that, I tried it the same way in Poland. That was a nice rehearsal.’
Although it will be his third appearance in Spain, the Vuelta is not his favorite round. The climbs are just a bit too steep for his liking, the temperature can rise sharply. He has trouble with heat, which is why he left the Tour de Suisse early in June. “But the team more often sends young riders to the Vuelta to gain experience and not to present them with a big race at the start of the season. It also suited my development better at the time. The Giro and the Tour suit me, I think, better. I like driving in Italy the most, because of the atmosphere around it and the country. It can also be cold and rainy there. I thrive in that. I am a little less enthusiastic about the Tour. So much depends on it, the attention is so great. It’s going a bit far, in my opinion.’
To Ineos?
In the route that Arensman has set for himself, an already much-discussed turn will soon take place: according to firm reports he will make the switch next season to the most wealthy team in cycling, the British Ineos. There are big names like Egan Bernal, Geraint Thomas, and Daniel Martinez under contract. This reduces his chances of leading in a big round.
Arensman does not confirm the transfer. “To my knowledge, nothing has been officially announced yet. The fact is that I am going to leave DSM. I still think it’s a great team, but the reason I’m leaving is because I want to learn a lot more. I’m only 22, I can learn so much from riders who have already won a Grand Tour themselves. To be able to take extra steps, I have to go to another team. Hopefully I can be such a person myself, in four to six years.’
What is possible in the coming weeks? ‘I am not concerned with a result at all. If you start sticking something on it, it all adds up to unnecessary stress and you disappoint yourself if you don’t make it. I want to try to get the best out of myself and still have some fun.’
In any case, the second stage of the Vuelta, Saturday from Den Bosch to Utrecht, provides recognition: the course leads over roads where he has many training kilometers and the finish is in the Utrecht Science Park, the former Uithof, where he studied. Seen in this way, Thymen Arensman’s step-by-step plan actually still leaves room for steps back.
Who will ride the time trial during the World Cup?
The fact that Tom Dumoulin renounces his participation in the world championship in Australia and has stopped cycling immediately, leads to a vacant spot in the time trial. National coach Koos Moerenhout has two starting places. After winning the Dutch championship, Bauke Mollema already announced that he has ambitions for the part in Wollongong. Thymen Arensman, who finished second in the final time trial of the Giro d’Italia, also likes it. ‘It would be a nice experience. But it’s all up to Koos.’
Arensman calls it a ‘super shame’ that Dumoulin stops, it was a rider with whom he felt a lot of affinity: their profile shows similarities. Both are long and on the heavy side for a climber. ‘But I do understand, I’m also starting to experience how stressful it can be.’