Thymen Arensman has impressively achieved his first stage victory in the Tour de France on Saturday. The 25-year-old Dutchman was the best after a 35-kilometer solo in a grueling stage through the Pyrenees.
In the fourteenth stage, Arensman was part of a breakaway group of 22 riders. On the famous Col de Peyresourde, the penultimate climb of the day, he broke away from his fellow escapees. Subsequently, he held on very well on his own. Even when Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar accelerated in the group of favorites on the final climb.
Vingegaard attacked twice, but Pogacar didn’t budge. The Slovenian, who won the previous two stages, finished second, 1 minute and 8 seconds behind Arensman. Vingegaard crossed the line four seconds later in third place. Pogacar remains the untouchable leader, with a lead of 4.13 minutes over Vingegaard.
Arensman achieved the fourth victory of his professional career in Luchon-Superbagnères. The climber was already the strongest in a stage of the Vuelta a España in 2022. The Tour debutant is considered the best Dutch GC rider of the moment. He finished twice in sixth place in the Giro d’Italia and once in fifth place in the Vuelta.
In his debut in the Tour, Arensman is fully focused on stage success. He finished second in the tenth stage and also rode in the attack in the twelfth stage. The Gelderlander is the first Dutch winner of a mountain stage in the Tour since Wout Poels was the best in Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc in 2023.
Remco Evenepoel dropped out early on Saturday. The number three of last year’s Tour was in third place in the general classification but suffered a hard blow in the time trial on Friday. A day later, he gave up. The 24-year-old German Florian Lipowitz is now third, 7.53 minutes behind Pogacar.
Peloton faces rain and cold
After the heat of the past few days, the peloton faced rain, fog, and lower temperatures in the last tough Pyrenean stage. Only after the intermediate sprint after 70 kilometers did the escapees get space. On the notorious Col du Tourmalet, the first climb of the day, a strong group rode away. Arensman was with them.
While Pogacar’s team set the pace in the peloton, Evenepoel immediately had a hard time. The Belgian had to let go, tried for another half hour, but then got into the team leader’s car in tears.
Escapee Lenny Martinez was the first to reach the top of the Tourmalet (19 kilometers at 7.4 percent) solo and then also on the Col d’Aspin (5 kilometers at 7.4 percent). The Frenchman took a lot of points for the mountain classification, but a stage victory was not in the cards.
Arensman placed a nice attack on Peyresourde
A chasing group including Arensman caught up with Martinez on the Col de Peyresourde (7.1 kilometers at 7.8 percent). Shortly afterwards, the Dutchman launched an impressive acceleration. Arensman quickly gained a good lead of one and a half minutes on his own.
At the foot of the final climb to Luchon-Superbagnères (12.4 kilometers at 7.3 percent), Arensman mainly had to fear Pogacar. The Slovenian rode more than three minutes behind the lonely leader in the group with favorites. His teammates set the pace but barely got closer to Arensman.
With 4 kilometers to go, Vingegaard attacked. Pogacar easily moved along. The two toppers thus took a bite out of Arensman’s lead, but it was too late in the fog to endanger the Dutchman’s fine victory.