“Egan has been phenomenal in this Giro” - Geraint Thomas lifts lid on INEOS rebuild after Bernal helps save Thymen Arensman’s best-ever GC result

Netcompany INEOS left the Giro d’Italia without a podium, but not without progress. Thymen Arensman’s fourth place was the best Grand Tour result of his career, Egan Bernal helped save it on the final mountain stage, and Geraint Thomas saw a team still reshaping itself around a new GC reality.

Thomas, the 2018 Tour de France winner who retired at the end of 2025 before moving into a Race Director role at INEOS, watched the Giro from the other side of the team structure. By Rome, the team had secured fourth overall with Arensman after a tense final mountain weekend, with Bernal playing a decisive support role on Stage 20 as Derek Gee-West threatened to turn the top-five fight into something far more dangerous.

For a team still searching for a route back towards Grand Tour-winning relevance, the Giro offered more than a single result. Arensman finished just off the podium but ahead of Gee-West, Afonso Eulalio, Michael Storer and Davide Piganzoli, while Bernal’s race became increasingly valuable inside the team even after his own GC challenge faded.

Speaking earlier in the race to IDL Pro Cycling, Thomas had already pointed to Bernal’s influence as one of the hidden strengths of INEOS’ Giro. “Egan has nevertheless been phenomenal in this Giro, as a leader within the team,” Thomas said.

Arensman arrived at the Giro having already finished sixth twice in the race, but this was the first time he converted that consistency into a top-four overall finish. It was not a smooth ride to Rome. His podium hopes came under pressure in the final week, and on the last mountain stage to Piancavallo he needed Bernal’s pacing and composure to contain the danger from Gee-West and Jai Hindley.

Thomas had seen the foundations earlier in the race. The Welshman felt Arensman had arrived with a clearer head and a better support structure around him than in previous Grand Tour campaigns.

“The team has surrounded him really well and Thymen is in a good place, after all the work he has done with his coach,” Thomas said. “He is in the best possible position for a good result.”

The difference, according to Thomas, was not only physical. Arensman had won two stages at the 2025 Tour de France, but the next challenge was converting that ability into a steadier three-week GC performance. “I think he has matured more, and he has taken confidence from 2025,” Thomas said.

That maturity was visible in the final outcome. Arensman missed the podium, but fourth overall still marked the strongest Grand Tour GC result of his career and gave INEOS a clearer focal point for future three-week plans.

INEOS also tried to manage Arensman’s Giro away from the racing itself. Thomas said the team had worked with him on limiting distractions, including his media load, after previous Grand Tours in which questions over early time losses and consistency often followed him through the race.

“Thymen had a good winter and has the right mindset,” Thomas said. “He is not overthinking it and he is not paying too much attention to other people’s opinions. He is sticking to what he and the team know.”

That approach included a deliberate plan around how much Arensman had to do off the bike. “Our press department sat down with Thymen and made a plan for how he can stay as focused as possible,” Thomas said. “Above all, he should not be distracted, and that seems to be working.”

Thomas admitted that his own approach as a rider was different, but he backed the tailored plan around Arensman. “Everyone is different. I never really minded saying something. But less is more, sometimes,” he said. “The starting point was: what is the minimum you want to do? We look at that day by day.”

For INEOS, that was part of the wider Giro picture. Arensman was not simply handed leadership and left to handle the pressure alone. The team tried to build a quieter environment around him, and the result was their best GC finish of the race.

Bernal’s own Giro did not develop into the GC challenge he would have wanted, but his importance increased as Arensman’s position became the team’s main objective. The Colombian, a Tour de France and Giro d’Italia winner, was central on Stage 20 when Arensman came under pressure and briefly risked losing ground in the fight for fourth.

Thomas had already stressed that Bernal’s value went beyond his own place in the standings. “I’m talking about his attitude towards the boys as well, even after a couple of lesser days,” Thomas said. “The way he talks in the bus... He has a huge influence on the team, even now that he is not the one who has to win it.”

That line carried extra weight by the end of the Giro. Bernal did not leave with the headline result, but his presence helped protect the one INEOS did get. Arensman later called him the team’s MVP on the final mountain stage, a sign of how clearly that support was felt inside the race.

Thomas also pushed back against the idea that Bernal should simply be stripped of leader status in future. “I think Egan will always want to keep preparing for races as a leader, to go for the best possible result in Grand Tours,” he said.

Speaking from his own experience as a former Grand Tour winner, Thomas said those ambitions still matter for riders who have reached the very top. “I know from my own experience that if you take that away, you are never really your best self anymore. You need those goals when you have won the biggest races.”

Thomas’ move into the team car has also changed his own view of INEOS. After years as one of the riders around whom the team was built, he is now watching the internal management, logistics and rider support from the staff side. “I don’t only see different things with Thymen, but with the whole team,” Thomas said. “You suddenly realise that those guys are dealing with things you had no idea about as a rider.”

The Giro gave INEOS a complicated but useful picture. Arensman showed he can carry a Grand Tour bid deeper than before. Bernal showed he can still shape a team’s race even when the GC is no longer his own. Thomas, now part of the staff structure, saw how much work goes into making both roles function.

“I now see a completely different side of the team,” he said, “and understand much better that it is all much bigger and more complicated than you sometimes think as a rider.”

INEOS did not leave the Giro with the maglia rosa or a podium place, but Arensman’s fourth, Bernal’s final-week support and Thomas’ early view from the other side gave the team something more solid than another near miss.