Thymen Arensman's dreams of finishing on the podium of a Grand Tour for the first time were dealt a huge blow on Friday, as the Dutchman was dumped out of the Giro d'Italia top three after a bruising day in the Dolomites.
The Netcompany Ineos leader struggled on the short final climb at the end of the queen stage of the race in the high mountains, and shipped more than a minute to his podium rivals.
Arensman, who started the day third overall, has slipped to fourth place with two stages remaining, 29 seconds behind Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who stayed close to race leader Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) to jump above Arensman on the overall standings.
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“It was quite hard, it was for quite hard for everyone, all-out, and that’s what I did today. I just tried to go as fast as I possible," Arensman said.
Arensman’s troubles only appeared late on the 151km mountain stage 19, which went over the mighty Passo Giau as one of six climbs on the menu.
The situation was made more disappointing by the fact that his team appeared to be setting him up for something on the final climb to Piani di Pezze, which was short at 5km but steep at an average gradient of 9.6%.
Arensman had started the day just 24 seconds down on second-placed Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), and would surely have sensed an opportunity to move up.
His teammate Embret Svestad-Bardseng dominated the descent off the Passo Falzarego and former Giro winner Egan Bernal took it up on the lower slopes of the final climb. But Arensman was soon at the back of the GC group when Gall’s Decathlon CMA CGM took over after a kilometre.
When Gall attacked 3.5km from the top, Arensman was immediately dropped, and he suffered all the way to the top.
Hindley also dangled off the back of the Vingegaard and Gall duo but finished just four seconds behind them, with Arensman getting to the top in 12th place, a further 1:02 back.
“Today I did everything I could, and I can be really proud of that," Arensman said.
"I’m especially super super proud of my team, everyone was so committed. I did my best today and I can be proud of that."
In the overall standings, 5:33 down on race leader Vingegaard but now 90 seconds behind Gall in second place and 29 seconds behind Hindley in third.
"The finish is in Rome, you always keep fighting," Arensman said, ahead of Saturday's final mountain stage, an easier day with a double ascent of the category-1 Piancavallo climb.
“We will try for sure, I will try my absolute best to recover well and go again tomorrow – that’s all I can do right."
