“The sound of that crash is going to cause nightmares” - Thymen Arensman admits Giro d’Italia horror crash will leave mental scars even for those who escaped physical damage

Thymen Arensman left Stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia in a strong general classification position, but the Netcompany Ineos rider admitted the sound and scale of the mass crash on the road to Veliko Tarnovo will stay with the peloton long after the race moves on.

The Dutchman avoided the worst of the huge fall that tore through the bunch before the final climb, with INEOS positioned on the right side of the road as riders went down heavily elsewhere. Arensman later finished in the front group and moved up to fourth overall, while team-mate Egan Bernal rose to third after also collecting bonus seconds.

On paper, it was a very good day for INEOS. In reality, Arensman’s first reaction was shaped by what had happened behind and around him.

“That sound of the crash will cause some nightmares,” Arensman said on his Strava post-stage. “I hope everyone is relatively OK.”

The crash came on wet roads around 25 kilometres from the finish, before the final climb to the Lyaskovets Monastery. It forced a temporary neutralisation and left several teams counting the cost before racing resumed.

UAE Team Emirates - XRG suffered a disastrous day, with Jay Vine and Marc Soler taken to hospital and Adam Yates later losing major time before abandoning ahead of Stage 3. Santiago Buitrago was also forced out and taken to hospital, while Andrea Vendrame later withdrew with fractures to three transverse processes in his lower back.

Arensman and Bernal were among those who escaped the incident, and INEOS quickly turned that survival into sporting gain. Bernal collected six bonus seconds at the Red Bull kilometre after the neutralisation, while Arensman took four, lifting both riders into strong early GC positions.

Arensman, though, was clear that luck had played a major role. “We were lucky that we were on the right side of the road, but it could just as easily have been otherwise,” he told In de Leiderstrui.

What made Arensman’s reaction stand out was the focus on the psychological impact of the crash, not only the physical injuries suffered by those who hit the ground.

Grand Tour riders are conditioned to continue. Stage 2 showed that again, with the peloton restarting and immediately returning to the fight for position before the final climb. But Arensman suggested the emotional effect of hearing and seeing such a crash cannot simply be left behind. “It is such a hard sport,” he said. “If you stay on the bike with fear after such a crash, you find yourself at the back in no time and you are finished. You can then pack away your ambitions for the general classification.”

That line captured the brutal contradiction of the Giro’s second stage. Riders had just seen friends, team-mates and rivals down on the road, yet those still in the race had to switch back into survival mode almost immediately.

For Arensman, the result was valuable. For the peloton, the damage from Stage 2 may last far beyond the official medical bulletins.