“If I was not wearing a helmet, I don't know if I would still be here”: Ineos rider Thymen Arensman thanks helmet after brutal crash ruling him out of Vuelta a España

The Vuelta a España this year hasn't been very kind to its riders — the latest victim of the Spanish Grand Tour yesterday was Ineos Grenadiers' Thymen Arensman, who suffered a brutal crash in the later stages of yesterday's stage seven, and has now been forced to abandon the race.

He attributed his coming out of the crash safely to his helmet and his luck, with thankfully no broken bones, but a few stitches to his face and a missing tooth.

Arensman wrote: "I am unbelievably lucky, I think. Apart from a bit of pain everywhere, my head hurts and missing a tooth it looks like nothing broken, so far.

"I can’t remember anything from what happened and woke up in the hospital, I must have been out for a few hours."

With only 5 kilometres to go in yesterday's flat stage at the Vuelta, the crash was most likely instigated by an unfortunate of coming together of the wheels of two Alpecin-Deceuninck's teammates, Jimmy Janssens and the points leader and Aussie sprint sensation Kaden Groves.

As Janssen went down, with two more riders from Groupama-FDJ going down with him, Arensman was also caught in it, with the 23-year-old rider from Netherlands seemingly catching the short end of the stick and concerningly staying down on the ground as everyone hastily called for emergency services.

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Despite the harrowing nature of the crash and the scary aftermath, Arensman was jovial and uplifted in his post. "I am not my most handsome self anymore with stitches and injuries to my face + missing a tooth, but I’ll take it. Probably my helmet saved my life"

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Thymen Arensman (@thymenarensman)

Team Ineos Grenadiers informed this morning that Arensman would be heading back to the Netherlands with his girlfriend.

He said: "It was quite scary, I was out for a few hours. I think I am super lucky I didn't break anything. I am missing a teeth, my neck hurts while I'm wearing this beautiful thing — my eye and my stitches — actually hurts everywhere a bit, my whole body, my knees, everything.

"I think I'm super lucky because it could have really bad. My head also hurts a little bit so I'm going to take it easy now. I think if I was not wearing a helmet I don't know if I would still be here. So I can really thank the helmet for that."

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He added that "everything was quite alright" and he was "relatively okay", and he would be cheering for his teammates while trying to recover to full health.

The guy we all wanted to see this morning 😃

We're thrilled to have @ThymenArensman back at the team hotel after his crash yesterday at #LaVuelta23

Here are the thoughts of the man himself as he prepares to head home to continue his recovery 📽️ pic.twitter.com/keZHm5MKMG

— INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) September 2, 2023

The day was a slow burner for the Grenadiers, with a two man break never more than a handful of minutes up the road. 

The team's principal GC contender Geraint Thomas unfortunately crashed before the TV broadcast began, but was quickly back on his bike and in the peloton. The concern for the team, besides its riders' wellbeing, would be that the Welshman was already 2:30 behind the rest of the favourites in the GC after losing an additional 24 seconds yesterday.

Geraint Thomas, stage 7 Vuelta 2023 (@Cxcling Creative Agency)

Arensman became the second Ineos rider to be forced to leave after a crash in what has been a difficult first week for the British team. His Belgian teammate Laurens De Plus suffered a broken hip after going down in the rain-soaked team time trial marred by poor visibility in stage one in Barcelona, and had to abandon as well.

> “Think!” – Ineos Grenadiers rider Laurens De Plus sends safety message to drivers after he is knocked off bike

There was another crash towards the end of the race, with Jumbo-Visma's GC contender-slash-domestique Sepp Kuss getting caught in it, but the American was thankfully quickly back in the peloton.

The flat stage was a perfect day for sprinters after the vicious climb at the astronomical observatory in Javalambre. However, The sprint wasn't any less chaotic either, without the big name sprinters and their monster lead outs it became a free-for-all, Geoffrey Soupe taking a surprise win for TotalEnergies ahead of Caja Rural's Orluis Aular.