Ineos Grenadiers has responded to criticism of its coaching from the father of its Dutch rider Thymen Arensman, saying it would continue to "back" and "support" the Dutchman after his under par showing on the opening weekend of the Giro.
While the 24-year-old, who won a brilliant stage on the 2022 Vuelta on his way to 6th overall, was lined up to rider the Giro as support for Geraint Thomas, he was also a second choice general classification option.
However, he suffered in the final of stage 1, being dropped on the last major climb and losing 2:17. And on Sunday's stage 2 he shed another 1:36. He is now back in 33rd place at 4:07 with just two stages completed.
His father, Martijn Arensman, was quick to take to social media and blame the team's coaching for his son's underwhelming displays so far.
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"The nicest thing about starting a GT is that no trainer can (s)crew up a cyclist's form anymore for the next three weeks", he said. "Hopefully it won’t be too screwed up for now."
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Ineos Grenadiers new performance director, Scott Drawer, said he believed Arensman would come good on the race. He stressed there was a long way to go and the Dutch rider was often at his best towards the back end of a Grand Tour.
"It's really hard if you're outside of the context of what's going on," he told The Cycling Podcast when asked about the criticism. "We know Grand Tours are three-week races.
"We know Thymen is always exceptionally strong across those three weeks, and especially strong on that third week.
"So you can't just take a single view on one stage. The reality is that every rider is probably going to have a bad moment within this stage (race), especially as a GC contender.
"So we'll continue to support him, back him. We know he's a super-talented individual. And I have no doubt that people are going to see some real strengths in Thymen throughout this race. And that's what we'll continue to do."
