'I was fading' - Arensman denies Pogacar clean sweep in Pyrenees

In the team briefing on Saturday morning, Thymen Arensman reckoned he needed a four-minute head start on Tadej Pogačar at the foot of the final climb to Superbagnères if he was to win stage 14 of the Tour de France.

As it turned out, the Dutchman only had a little more than three minutes in hand as he began the final ascent, but that proved more than enough as he held on to the claim the biggest win of his career.

Pogačar came home 1:08 behind, outsprinting Jonas Vingegaard to extend his lead atop the overall standings, but he was denied a hat-trick of stage wins in the Pyrenees by Arensman, who had been part of the break of the day on the Col du Tourmalet.

Arensman had his Ineos teammate Carlos Rodríguez for company in the move, but when UAE Team Emirates-XRG began to lift the pace on the penultimate climb of the Col de Peyresourde, he opted to strike out alone. He had 1:30 on his erstwhile companions by the summit, and he plunged down to the misty descent to give himself a fighting chance of fending off Pogačar et al in the finale.

“I heard the gap to the GC group on the Peyresourde, and I thought with Tadej and Jonas, three minutes was probably not enough,” Arensman said. “I thought, ‘I have to move – maybe it’s suicide move, maybe it’s not.’ 

“I can’t believe I held them off. I was really fading on the second half of the climb, but I think all the spectators gave me extra watts. It’s crazy.”

Arensman arrived at his debut Tour off the bike of a disappointing display at the Giro d’Italia, where he faded in the third week to finish 29th overall, though he showed his form with second place behind Simon Yates on stage 10 to Le Mont-Dore. Meanwhile, his Ineos leader Rodríguez lost his hopes of a high overall finish once the race hit the Pyrenees.

“I got sick after the Giro, but I think I still had a good preparation,” Arensman said. “Going into my first Tour, I wanted to experience everything, but I had to be patient because it was punchy in the first week."

“Then the first opportunity I got in the mountains, I was already second on the Mont-Dore stage. That was already an amazing experience in my first Tour, but this is unbelievable, the way we did it today. Carlos was also in that group, he was super strong and did a really good job for me. And I think I had amazing legs and the shape of my life.”

Arensman’s victory was the first for Ineos at this Tour, where they have created headlines primarily for an incident related to the 2012 race. A documentary by German broadcaster ARD in June indicated that a longstanding member of Ineos staff had direct contact with Mark Schmidt, the doctor at the centre of the Aderlass doping inquiry, during the 2012 Tour. The staff member was already working for the team, then called Team Sky. That year’s race was won by Bradley Wiggins ahead of Sky teammate Chris Froome.

Domestique understands the staff member in question – a carer – has been working for Ineos on this Tour. Ineos team management, including the recently returned Dave Brailsford, have refused to answer questions from reporters about the case. In a statement on Thursday, Ineos said they were seeking further information on the matter from the International Testing Authority (ITA).

“I have no idea about this,” Arensman said. “You have to ask the management, to be honest. I’m just focused on my job and my own thing. I don’t really know, to be honest. You have to ask the management.”