‘This suffering is nothing’: Arvid De Kleijn on surviving the Tour de France time cut

‘This suffering is nothing’: Arvid De Kleijn on surviving the Tour de France time cut

The Dutch sprinter was dropped early on the first mountain stage and spent the entire day riding alone to beat the limit, his thoughts fixed on his father's suffering from cancer.

By Tim Bonville-Ginn · · 3 min read

Arvid De Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) survived the stage 3 time cut at the Tour de France after spending most of the 195.9km mountain stage from Granollers to Les Angles riding at full effort to stay in the race. Afterwards, the 32-year-old Dutch sprinter said he had thought constantly about his father, who died of cancer in February, and that his own suffering on the road felt insignificant by comparison.

"I’m completely exhausted," De Kleijn said after the stage in a video interview with Wielerflits. "But I was thinking about my dad. He died at the end of February. He suffered so much that this suffering is nothing in comparison. You can feel sorry for yourself, but it doesn’t make sense.

"I didn’t expect to make it," he said. "But if you keep fighting, and if I can just keep riding at my own pace, then I have a chance. That’s what I did."

The stage was the Tour's first mountain test, crossing four categorised climbs before finishing at Les Angles. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) won and took the yellow jersey. The time limit was set at 17 percent of the winner's time, giving dropped riders 48:29 to reach the line. De Kleijn finished in 41:16 and stays in the race for another day.

Related - How to watch the Tour de France in the UK

Results

Granollers - Les Angles • Jul 6 • 195.9km

Velora
PosRiderTeamTime
🥇
Tadej Pogačar
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG4:45:11
🥈
Jonas Vingegaard Hansen
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+0:02
🥉
Richard Antonio Carapaz Montenegro
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+0:02
4
Paul Seixas
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+0:02
5
Tobias Halland Johannessen
UNO-X MOBILITY+0:04
6
Lennert van Eetvelt
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+0:04
7
Florian Lipowitz
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+0:04
8
Remco Evenepoel
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+0:04
9
Isaac del Toro Romero
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+0:04
10
Juan Ayuso Pesquera
LIDL-TREK+0:04
11
Mattias Skjelmose Jennow Jensen
LIDL-TREK+0:10
12
Ilan van Wilder
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+0:12
13
Lenny Sydney Martinez
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+0:12
14
Jordan Jegat
TOTALENERGIES+0:12
15
Sergio Andres Higuita Garcia
XDS ASTANA TEAM+0:18
16
Thomas Pidcock
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+0:18
17
Egan Arley Bernal Gomez
NETCOMPANY INEOS+0:18
18
Tiesj Benoot
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+0:27
19
Thymen Arensman
NETCOMPANY INEOS+0:27
20
Davide Piganzoli
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+0:33
21
Antonio Tiberi
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+0:42
22
Ramses Debruyne
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+0:48
23
Adam Richard Yates
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+0:50
24
Sepp Kuss
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+0:50
25
Harold Alfonso Tejada Canacue
XDS ASTANA TEAM+0:57
26
Pablo Castrillo Zapater
MOVISTAR TEAM+1:00
27
Cian Uijtdebroeks
MOVISTAR TEAM+1:00
28
Guillaume Martin Guyonnet
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+1:06
29
Yannis Voisard
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+1:22
30
Torstein Træen
UNO-X MOBILITY+1:38
31
Jai Hindley
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+1:38
32
Sean Quinn
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+1:43
33
Jose Felix Parra Cuerda
CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA+1:45
34
Aurélien Paret Peintre
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+2:14
35
Brandon Mcnulty
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+2:23
36
Maxim van Gils
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+2:33
37
Nicolas Prodhomme
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+2:33
38
Mathias Vacek
LIDL-TREK+2:38
39
Christopher Harper
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+2:41
40
Matteo Jorgenson
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+2:42
41
Quinn Simmons
LIDL-TREK+2:49
42
Valentin Paret Peintre
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+3:00
43
Nicolas Breuillard
TOTALENERGIES+3:13
44
Carlos Verona Quintanilla
LIDL-TREK+3:27
45
Anders Skaarseth
UNO-X MOBILITY+3:27
46
George Bennett
NSN CYCLING TEAM+4:02
47
Alex Baudin
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+4:08
48
Raul Garcia Pierna
MOVISTAR TEAM+4:16
49
Felix Grossschartner
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+5:02
50
Matteo Vercher
TOTALENERGIES+7:36
51
Kasper Asgreen
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+13:35
52
Nelson Oliveira
MOVISTAR TEAM+13:35
53
Abel Balderstone Roumens
CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA+13:35
54
Einer Augusto Rubio Reyes
MOVISTAR TEAM+13:35
55
Ion Izaguirre Insausti
COFIDIS+13:35
56
Marc Hirschi
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+13:35
57
Kévin Vauquelin
NETCOMPANY INEOS+13:35
58
Michael Storer
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+13:35
59
Lorenzo Germani
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+13:35
60
Mattia Cattaneo
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+13:35
61
Damiano Caruso
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+13:35
62
Victor Campenaerts
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+13:35
63
Quinten Hermans
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+13:35
64
Xandro Meurisse
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+13:35
65
Toms Skujins
LIDL-TREK+13:35
66
Clément Braz Afonso
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+13:35
67
Derek Gee
LIDL-TREK+13:35
68
Vlad van Mechelen
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+13:54
69
Simone Velasco
XDS ASTANA TEAM+16:18
70
Magnus Nielsen
UNO-X MOBILITY+17:38
71
Nils Politt
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+19:52
72
Michael James Matthews
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+19:57
73
Jonas Abrahamsen
UNO-X MOBILITY+19:57
74
Tim Wellens
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+20:18
75
Romain Gregoire
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+20:18
76
Pascal Eenkhoorn
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+20:18
77
Jefferson Alveiro Cepeda Hernandez
MOVISTAR TEAM+20:18
78
Javier Romo Oliver
MOVISTAR TEAM+20:18
79
Mathis le Berre
TOTALENERGIES+20:18
80
Georg Zimmermann
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+20:18
81
Ben Alexander O'Connor
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+20:22
82
Stefano Oldani
CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA+20:32
83
Sebastian Berwick
CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA+20:32
84
Jakub Otruba
CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA+20:32
85
Alexandre Delettre
TOTALENERGIES+20:41
86
Joris Delbove
TOTALENERGIES+20:41
87
Dylan van Baarle
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+20:41
88
Jasper Stuyven
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+20:51
89
Ben Healy
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+21:00
90
Mauro Schmid
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+21:28
91
Silvan Dillier
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+22:59
92
Felix Engelhardt
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+22:59
93
Mike Teunissen
XDS ASTANA TEAM+22:59
94
Clément Russo
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+22:59
95
Quentin Pacher
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+22:59
96
Rick Pluimers
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+22:59
97
Jenno Berckmoes
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+22:59
98
Anthon Charmig
UNO-X MOBILITY+22:59
99
Damien Craig Howson
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+22:59
100
Robert Stannard
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+22:59
101
Aaron Murray Gate
XDS ASTANA TEAM+22:59
102
Luke Durbridge
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+22:59
103
Louis Vervaeke
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+22:59
104
Emiel Verstrynge
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+22:59
105
Nico Denz
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+22:59
106
Matej Mohoric
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+22:59
107
Ewen Costiou
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+23:10
108
Georg Steinhauser
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+23:20
109
Thibault Guernalec
TOTALENERGIES+23:20
110
Jonas Rickaert
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+23:24
111
Alex Aranburu Deva
COFIDIS+23:29
112
Michael Valgren
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+23:29
113
Marco Frigo
NSN CYCLING TEAM+23:36
114
Warren Barguil
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+23:36
115
Anthony Turgis
TOTALENERGIES+23:40
116
Frank van den Broek
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+23:46
117
Brent van Moer
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+23:52
118
Lars Craps
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+23:52
119
Max Walker
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+23:52
120
Krists Neilands
NSN CYCLING TEAM+23:52
121
Lucas Plapp
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+23:57
122
Benjamin Thomas
COFIDIS+24:13
123
Jan Tratnik
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+24:13
124
Edward Planckaert
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+24:17
125
Mathieu van der Poel
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+24:17
126
Jasper Philipsen
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+24:17
127
Xabier Mikel Azparren Irurzun
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+24:17
128
Daan Hoole
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+24:28
129
Mads Pedersen
LIDL-TREK+24:28
130
Michel Heßmann
MOVISTAR TEAM+24:28
131
Joel Nicolau Beltran
CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA+24:28
132
Biniam Girmay
NSN CYCLING TEAM+24:30
133
Max Kanter
XDS ASTANA TEAM+24:40
134
Matteo Trentin
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+24:49
135
Florian Vermeersch
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+25:22
136
Søren Wærenskjold
UNO-X MOBILITY+26:11
137
Nicolya Vinokurov
XDS ASTANA TEAM+27:00
138
Alex Kirsch
COFIDIS+31:14
139
Baptiste Veistroffer
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+36:27
140
Matis Louvel
NSN CYCLING TEAM+36:27
141
Julian Alaphilippe
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+36:27
142
Tom van Asbroeck
NSN CYCLING TEAM+36:27
143
Alex Molenaar
CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA+36:27
144
John Degenkolb
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+36:30
145
Matthew Riccitello
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+36:30
146
Milan Fretin
COFIDIS+36:30
147
Jenthe Biermans
COFIDIS+36:30
148
Pavel Bittner
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+36:30
149
Niklas Märkl
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+36:30
150
Phil Bauhaus
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+36:30
151
Pascal Ackermann
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+36:30
152
Tim van Dijke
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+36:30
153
Kamil Gradek
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+36:30
154
Tim Marsman
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+36:30
155
Bert van Lerberghe
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+36:30
156
Tim Merlier
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+36:30
157
Julius van den Berg
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+36:30
158
Thomas Jake Stewart
NSN CYCLING TEAM+36:30
159
Olav Kooij
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+36:30
160
Frits Biesterbos
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+36:30
161
Fernando Gaviria Rendon
CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA+36:30
162
Cees Bol
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+36:30
163
Edoardo Affini
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+36:30
164
Piet Allegaert
COFIDIS+36:30
165
Per Strand Hagenes
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+36:30
166
Michal Kwiatkowski
NETCOMPANY INEOS+36:30
167
Huub Artz
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+36:30
168
Anders Halland Johannessen
UNO-X MOBILITY+36:30
169
Bruno Armirail
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+36:30
170
Lewis Askey
NSN CYCLING TEAM+36:30
171
Tobias Svendsen Foss
NETCOMPANY INEOS+36:30
172
Dorian Godon
NETCOMPANY INEOS+36:30
173
Hugo Page
COFIDIS+36:30
174
Liam Slock
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+36:42
175
Davide Ballerini
XDS ASTANA TEAM+37:40
176
Alfred Brockwell Wright
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+37:41
177
Robbe Dhondt
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+38:07
178
Joshua Michael Tarling
NETCOMPANY INEOS+38:10
179
Filippo Ganna
NETCOMPANY INEOS+38:10
180
Marco Haller
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+38:12
181
Kelland O’Brien
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+38:31
182
Arvid de Kleijn
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+41:16

How he stayed inside the limit

The Dutchman was one of the first riders to be distanced on the opening climbs of the day. He quickly lost contact with other riders who were forming a grupetto and drifted into a world of hurt. He found himself briefly in a small group that included Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Intermarché), Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarché) and Robbe Dhondt (Team Picnic PostNL), and the four rode flat out on the valley roads between climbs.

The group split up with De Lie struggling further and eventually abandoning the stage leaving Veistroffer to push on and make sure he made the time cut, which he did comfortably. Dhondt also rode away and finished ahead of multiple riders who started to struggle later on including Netcompany-Ineos duo of Filippo Ganna and Josh Tarling. After that, De Kleijn was mostly alone.

"I rode full gas all day," De Kleijn told Wielerflits. "I was dropped too early from the sprinters’ group. I ended up with Arnaud De Lie and the four of us rode flat out on the valley roads. At a certain point we had to leave Arnaud behind. After that I did almost everything on my own. We split up because we didn’t know if we’d still make the time limit.

"I didn’t expect it," he said. "But if you keep fighting, and if I can just keep riding at my own pace, then I’ve got a chance. That’s what I did."

De Kleijn's father died after a battle with cancer earlier this year, and the rider said the memory put the physical ordeal of spending hours on the edge of elimination into perspective.

He is still fighting in this Tour to get to the first sprint stage into Pau on stage 5 where he will get to do what he is best at and try to sprint to victory. A win would be incredibly emotional for so many reasons.

Cover image credit: Xavier Pereyron

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Tim Bonville-Ginn

Pro cycling contributor

Tim Bonville-Ginn is a freelance writer who has worked in cycling for well over a decade with his articles being featured across publications such as Cyclingnews, Cycling Weekly, Cyclist, Rouleur, Eurosport, Road cc, Domestique, and more.

As well as writing, Tim has worked as a social media and press manager for professional teams Human Powered Health, Global 6, and Saint Piran across Europe as well as commentating on races such as the African Continental Championships, Tour de Feminin and multiple rounds of the British road and circuit series for Golazo and Monument Cycling.

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