Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) and Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) were among the biggest losers on the 2025 Giro d’Italia‘s opening day in Albania, with the Canadian losing 57 seconds and the Dutchman 1:37 to the main group of GC favourites.
But on stage 2 and racing up to the same finish line in Tirana, both riders were able to start somewhat of a comeback for their overall ambitions by finishing in the top 20 on the stage, with Gee jumping 11 spots on GC and Arensman 15.
Arensman, who dropped earlier of the two in shocking fashion up the main Surrel climb on stage 1, performed better, losing only 21 seconds to stage winner Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers) and new maglia rosa Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe).
He was, unsurprisingly, quite a lot more satisfied with his performance when he spoke at the finish, albeit unaware of where he would ultimately end up, but then also shed light on just what went wrong on day one at the Giro.
“I just made it so heavy for myself,” admitted the Dutchman to reporters at the finish.
“I don’t want to say demons in your head or whatever, but if you’re like ‘Oh I really want to perform this time and I did everything I could for the first day’, but you are so nervous and fighting yourself, then it’s like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“If you keep on thinking about it and you’re so nervous, then it just happens. So I’m just happy the day of yesterday is done.”
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Arensman also admitted that he’d thought about leaving the race due to the disaster of an opening stage, but then got rational and was perhaps reminded of how his sixth-place GC finish at last year’s Giro started with a 2:17 loss on the opening day in Turin.
“I really wanted to go home, I was so disappointed yesterday, but it’s just a learning process for myself, and I’ve been getting betting every time,” said Arensman.
“In all the races I’ve done this year, I’ve made so many good steps fighting myself, but like every learning process, it’s not one straight line up, it has ups and downs. We’ll only get better from now on.”
Gee was similarly not panicked as he explained what went wrong on the opening day after a more promising second stage, assuring that “no alarm bells” were ringing yet, with the hardest terrain of the 108th Giro all backloaded in the final week.
“I think it was the same thing that happened at the Tour of the Alps, it was just a rough opener. My heart rate was high, and then the engine blew, so it just takes a couple of days for me to get into it, I think,” said Gee to reporters.
“For sure, I’m on the back foot already, but there are so many hard days to come. In the end, obviously, you’re always upset to lose a minute where a big group comes to the finish across the line, but hopefully by the end of the three weeks, [the gap] won’t be the same.
“It’s not like alarm bells. The legs feel fine, they felt good in the TT today, and we’ll see how tomorrow goes – hopefully it’s not a repeat of yesterday, and we just keep going up.”
If it really is like the Tour of the Alps, then expect Gee to bounce back with a bang, likely by getting himself into a break, which with a 1:25 deficit to Roglič could be possible, and driving himself up the overall rankings.
It’s only one day on from their disaster, and Arensman and Gee have already made ground. With all of the Giro’s hardest climbs and another time trial to come, there is a long road yet to Rome for the GC standings to be decided.
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