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2021 Tour de France | 2022 Giro d'Italia
Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly. - Langston Hughes
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We posted the report from new GC leader Ethan Hayter's Team INEOS Grenadiers with the results.
Here's the report from stage winner Thymen Arensman's Team DSM:
Thymen Arensman raced to his first professional victory on stage 6 of the Tour de Pologne, posting the fastest time in the tough uphill individual time trial. It was a strong day on the 11.8km course for Team DSM placing three in the top 20, with Marco Brenner finishing fifth and Nikias Arndt 18th.
Having twice finished second on stages of the Giro d’Italia earlier this year, as well as finishing third at the Tour of the Alps, Arensman has been knocking on the door of a big win for some time and so today is a well earned reward for the hard work and progression over the past seasons.
Thymen Arensman finishes stage five of the 2022 Tour of the Alps. Sirotti photo
Arensman now sits in second overall heading into tomorrow’s final stage in Poland, just 11 seconds behind the overall race leader.
“It was a good day!” exclaimed Arensman after his podium duties. “All the preparation from the staff and team was on point. All I needed was some good legs out there. I didn’t have my very best day but in the end it was good enough for the victory. It’s great to get my first pro victory with the team and for this to be in a TT at a WorldTour race.
“The win’s only possible thanks to the investments that the team has made in time trialling with me. We’ve got an absolutely amazing equipment setup too. We can all be proud for this achievement so I want to say thanks to the whole team. Now we look ahead to tomorrow’s final stage.”
Team DSM coach Luke Roberts said: “Once the parcours was released for this race we knew this would be a really suitable time trial for Thymen. he prepared well for it over the past weeks and we could get him through the first five stages in good shape to challenge for the overall classification. He came into today with good feelings and he did a great ride. Credit to the whole team for the work to set him up for this. He finished it off with the stage win that puts himself into contention for the overall with just one stage to go.”
Here’s the Tour of Poland report from Sergio Higuita’s Team Bora-hansgrohe:
The penultimate stage featured an 11.8 km long slightly uphill individual time trial which resulted in decisive time gaps between the riders and, given the tight overall standings, presented a preliminary decision on the overall victory. The first 8 km of the course were slightly flat, but the subsequent two kilometers went uphill before a final flat stretch to the Narciasrska Rusiński ski station.
Sergio Higuita, the then leader in the GC, left the start ramp in Gronków with a four second lead ahead of his next placed competitor and stopped the clock with a time of 18:30 minutes, 50 seconds in arrears of the day's winner Thymen Arensman. The Colombian champion now sits in eighth place overall ahead of tomorrow's sprint stage. Unfortunately Jordi Meeus had an unlucky crash and hit the deck. Initial medical examinations indicate that he remained conscious the entire time and he has been taken to the hospital for further examination.
Sergio Higuita (on right) winning stage three. Sirotti photo
"It was a solid time trial for me today. In the last two time trials I did I performed pretty well, and I think I'm improving every time in this discipline. So now we're still in the top 10 in the GC, and with a stage win in the bag, we can be pleased with our Tour of Poland so far. I also want to wish my teammate Jordi all the best and a speedy recovery after his crash today." - Sergio Higuita
Dennis' Team Jumbo-Visma sent me this report:
Rohan Dennis has won the time trial at the Commonwealth Games. The Australian of Team Jumbo-Visma won with a convincing margin over his competitors and raced to the gold medal.
At the Commonwealth Games, the riders represent their country. Dennis competed in the Australian jersey. The two-time world time trial champion did this superbly and showed from start to finish that he was the strongest. In the end, Dennis took the gold with a 26-second lead over Fred Wright and secured his second season victory.
Rohan Dennis at the 2022 Tour de Romandie. Sirotti photo
"It's an honour. It's great to finally be on the top spot of the podium here", Dennis said.
Dennis had a lot of support in the UK, which surprised him positively. "I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of Australian flags along the side of the road. I didn’t build up the race well. Perhaps, the nerves were to blame. In the end, everything fell into place and I took the gold. I am thrilled with this", said the new champion.
The team sent me this update:
Australian rider Chris Harper will join Team BikeExchange-Jayco on a two-year contract, a welcomed addition boosting the team’s climbing group, as the squad continues to target general classification success.
Harper, a well-known rider within the Australian team, will bring a wealth of WorldTour experience with him, as a valuable and capable domestique in week-long stage races and Grand Tours.
After a couple of seasons interrupted by illness and injury, the 27-year-old is ready for a fresh start with GreenEDGE Cycling, with the team’s vision of having the rider from Melbourne as a key part of their future general classification success.
Brent Copeland – General Manager:
“It is always good for us to bring Australian talent to the team, we have a few younger riders making the step up to the WorldTour by joining our team, and we hope we can develop them well in the next years, but with Chris, he is already a well-established rider with lots of experience, so it is very motivating for us to welcome him onto the team.
"Chris already knows a lot of the riders and staff well, being a rider from Australia, and we have only heard great things about him and seen how he has played a valuable role as a domestique rider in the biggest stage races in the world. We can’t wait to get started and we are confident it is going to be a great addition having Chris on our team in the hilly races.”
Chris Harper:
“I’m very excited to join Team BikeExchange-Jayco for the coming two seasons. Being an Australian, I’ve always admired the team and had a lot of respect for the staff and riders so it is exciting to be joining them.
"I’m looking forward to starting a new chapter in my career and finding some good goals over the coming season and I hope that I can contribute to a lot of success within the team.”
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