After riding to 16th place in his first ever U23 CX World Championships race in Limburg last Sunday, Thymen Arensman has wrapped up a solid cross campaign. The 18-year old, who has seized strong results throughout the winter, is satisfied with his fast adaptation to the new category. “Overall I am really satisfied, of course I had some ups and downs but my season went as expected. It was hard to combine school and training, but that makes all the good results of the year even more special. It was not easy to race against rivals who were three years older than me at the same time that I kept up with all the school work, but my feeling for the season it is really positive” points out the Dutchman youngster. 

Finishing third in the U23 CX Dutch Nationals and racing to seventh and ninth in the World Cup events in Zeven and Koksijde adds up for a impressive presentation card for our first year U23. However, Arensman is ready to join the rest of his teammates in Loutraki for the team training camp. “I will rest for some days, before racing one last CX race this season. I will go into it without any expectations and just for fun. Right now I am looking forward to join the team in Greece for a few days”. 

From now on road racing will be the main focus of the talented Dutchman. Arensman has been doing that transition for a while now, and that is why he relies on his previous experience in order to make his first season with the Academy a successful one. “I have always combined both disciplines and never had any trouble when transitioning from one to the other. The only downside is that my condition in the beginning of the season will not be ideal. Most of the riders start with long and hard training season around December and I do that on February. I feel relaxed about it, I believe that the key is not to get crazy and try to have fun in the beginning of the road season. If I do that results and form will eventually come along”.