'Egan really was the MVP today' - Arensman defends 4th on Piancavallo as Bernal thinks back to 2021

Jonas Vingegaard won the stage with his fifth victory of the race, attacking inside the final 11km of Piancavallo and riding clear of Felix Gall, Jai Hindley and Gee-West to all but seal the maglia rosa. 

Behind, Bernal and Arensman bridged across to the Gall/Hindley/Gee-West group after a brief gap had opened up, with the multiple Grand Tour winner, Bernal, also bringing Arensman back into contention after the Dutchman dropped his chain in the closing kilometres.

"Egan really was the MVP today," Arensman said after the line to CyclingPro.net. "We had a plan for today and we did exactly that. I think we both did a super good performance and paced the climb to absolute perfection."

"Really chapeau to the team all day. They did a super good job for me and I feel super proud and honoured to ride for this team and get a nice result back for the team. I'm just really proud of the guys."

"We had a plan to pace the climb and I know also like yesterday, such steep climbs, I have to pace a little bit more and then on the little bit easier last part we could make a difference together. It's super nice when a plan comes together."

Arensman started the day fourth on GC at 5:33 down on Vingegaard, having lost his third place to Hindley on stage 19. The final mountain stage of the race leaves the top five unchanged from the previous day: Vingegaard, Gall, Hindley, Arensman, Gee-West.

The Dutchman reminded that the Giro is technically still not over. "Well, there's still one stage to go, so who knows?" Arensman said when reminded that Sunday's stage 21 could still impact the GC. "But yeah, we had a plan, and we did exactly that. Super nice when a plan comes together."

Bernal also reflected on the day and had experienced a similar situation during his victorious Giro in 2021, when teammate Daniel Felipe Martínez encouraged him through a difficult moment while he was wearing the pink jersey.

“I thought back to that exact moment, when I was being dropped and he was helping me. Thymen was going through a difficult moment, but I knew what I had to do.”

“We had to take the steep section a little more steadily and then accelerate on the flatter part. That’s what we did,” Bernal said via the social media channels of the team, before looking back on his own Giro. “It was a good race. You always want more, but Thymen is very close to the podium and that’s the situation. Now we have to keep improving and be ready for the next race.”