'It takes a bit of pressure off' – Thymen Arensman to share Ineos Grenadier Giro d'Italia leadership with Egan Bernal

Thymen Arensman will head to the Giro d'Italia as Ineos Grenadiers' co-leader alongside Egan Bernal, as he hopes to improve upon two sixth places scored in the Italian Grand Tour.

The Dutchman recently finished third overall at Paris-Nice, and for the third year running, the Giro d'Italia will be his Grand Tour goal of the season.

In 2023 and 2024, Arensman went to the Giro as co-leader with Geraint Thomas, on both occasions finishing in sixth as the Welshman finished on the podium. 

With Thomas and Carlos Rodríguez focusing on the Tour de France this year, it looked as though Arensman would be Ineos' sole leader in Italy but with Egan Bernal's return to form, both riders will arrive in Albania targeting the overall classification. The race and the roads of Italy will then decide who performs the best. 

"The team wants me to do GC together with Egan, so let's see if I can hopefully improve on two sixth places from past years," Arensman told Cyclingnews at the Tour of the Alps. 

"It's nice for sure. It's a nice opportunity and it's a nice parcours, so I'll do my best."

Despite another year of sharing GC duties rather than being the single protected rider, Arensman had no complaints about being co-leader once again.

"I have always shared leadership with G in the last years, so it's nothing different," he said. 

"He's just a different type of rider, so I think that can also help because Egan is a different type of rider to me and G. Geraint and I are similar, so maybe it opens a bit more for us as a team."

Co-leadership will help lighten the burden of responsibility on Arensman's shoulders.

"You have two cards to play, so you can use each other a little bit in the deep finals and that takes a bit of the pressure off," he said. 

"You both have the same goal and you both want to do your best."

Whilst Bernal prepares for the Giro at altitude at home in Colombia, Arensman is currently racing at the Tour of the Alps after a three-week block at altitude. 

Arensman has had a lowkey ride so far, but that's nothing of concern for him.

"I think as usual, after altitude, it's a bit up and down," he said of his form. 

"I think the first day I felt really good and it was good, but stage 2 was just a bad day after altitude. My legs just didn't want to go, and the watts I did on the last climb were pretty shit to be honest, but I just couldn't go faster. So it is what it is. I went deep until the finish and that's all I can do. 

"Also the climbs here are really punchy, it's not really my specialty, but it's still good preparation for the Giro. I'll just keep doing my best every day."

After third at Paris-Nice, it would be easy to expect that Arensman would chase another result in the Tour of the Alps, but after altitude he was more relaxed about what he's hoping to achieve in Italy and Austria this week.

"Of course you always want to get a nice result, but you never know how the body will respond after altitude, at least for me," he said. 

"Sometimes I'm good, I've done a really good race here in 2022, but in 2023 it was really bad. It just differs, I can't really go into the race with any expectations, I just do my best every day and that's basically all I can do."

More so than results, it's also a chance to get back into the race rhythm, something that is increasingly important as riders often now train more and race less.

"I think just to be back in the bunch, and some hard racing. It's quite a tactical race here, so that's also good to get into the system before the Giro," he said. 

"It's just another race in the legs and good fine-tuning for the Giro."

After the Tour of the Alps, Arensman will return home to unwind and refresh before heading to Albania for the start of the Giro d'Italia on Friday May 9.