Arensman remains protected, Bernal retains Ineos' faith and Rivera underrated
Zak Dempster on where the British team sit ahead of the tough finish to Tagliacozzo
Almost a week into the Giro d’Italia, Ineos Grenadiers have put themselves in a strong position going into the next phase of the race.
The British team have a stage win through Josh Tarling, and Egan Bernal and Thymen Arensman are still slated as the team’s two protected riders on GC. With Brandon Smith Rivera competitive in the tougher sprints, the squad has several cards to play.
The only blemish for the team so far has been Arensman’s time loss on the first day. Still, sports director Zak Dempster is confident that the team can continue to chase several objectives in the race as Bernal and Arensman compete for the general classification, whilst the rest of the team focus on domestique duties and stage wins.
“Thymen got through fine and Egan was looking good and following well forward in the bunch,” Dempster told me when discussing Wednesday’s stage 5 to Matera, in which both GC candidates were present and accounted for in the maglia rosa group, and Rivera sprinted to his second top-ten of the race.
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“Thymen is doing his thing and clicking into gear, and Brandon was up there in eighth, which was nice to see. He’s an underrated rider in our team. He was fourth the other day, and we gave him the chance to hang on [today]. There was zero lull after the climb, but it was a great effort from the team,” Dempster said.