While Thymen Arensman has already quite significant portion of time in the opening two stages of the Giro d'Italia, another Dutch-speaker Cian Uijtdebroeks was seen up the front and still in the mix for final podium. In Kop over Kop podcast, the differences between the two are discussed, among other.
Jan Hermsen still believes that Arensman can crawl back to the top 5: "That is certainly possible, but some things have to happen. We know that he often starts poorly in a grand tour. People from his immediate environment have even commented on why that happened. There was a tweet from his father and a jab at his trainer."
Jeroen Vanbelleghem thinks it is mainly a mental issue: "I have the feeling that Arensman at the start, when everyone is still in the same time, he puts too much pressure on himself and that he finds it exciting to compete for the rankings. Only when he falls behind and the pressure is off will he perform."
This does not apply to Cian Uijtdebroeks, according to Vanbelleghem: "The difference with Uijtdebroeks is mentally quite big. I think that Uijtdebroeks is really a leader in his head and that Arensman is really not. One can handle the pressure better."