“A frustrating day" sees Thymen Arensman lose more time on stage 8 of the Giro d'Italia

Despite an overall positive day for the INEOS Grenadiers at the Giro d'Italia, stage 8 saw further frustration and bad luck for Thymen Arensman.

“A frustrating day for me,” the 23-year-old former Vuelta a Espana stage winner revealed on his social media following the end of stage 8's drama that saw his teammates Tao Geoghegan Hart and Geraint Thomas gain time alongside Primoz Roglic on pre-race favourite Remco Evenepoel. “I first crashed into the back of some UAE Emirates guys. I hurt my thumb and ribs.”

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Now sitting 19th in the general classification, Arensman is over three minutes down on the overall leader, Team DSM's Andreas Leknessund meaning any general classification hopes he may have had are now all but gone. “My chain also came off at the top of the last climb. As a result, I lost the connection with the classification group,” he laments.

For his INEOS teammates however, all is not lost. Both Thomas and Geoghegan Hart are sitting pretty in the top 6, within a minute of Leknessund and Arensman is confident in his team's chances of bringing back the Maglia Rosa. “Luckily we still have five cards to play.”

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Start times of key stage 9 time trial at the Giro d'Italia 2023