ProTeam Arnaud De Lie immediately strikes at comeback
Arnaud De Lie takes his first win of the season, making it his second consecutive win at the Lotto-Famenne Ardenne Classic, a race close to his home. “I’m super happy with this victory, after a difficult period. I don’t have any words. I want to thank everyone who helped me during the past weeks. I didn’t feel great at the beginning of the race, it was also hard with the wind, but suddenly I felt better and my teammates gave me a lot of trust.”
A breakaway of nine riders, where four riders of Lotto Dstny were present, got three minutes. On 100 kilometers to go the bunch took them back and four other riders jumped to the front. Lotto Dstny controlled and at 42 kilometers to go everything came back together. Attacks got countered and a sprint was in the making.
“At the end it was a sprint. When a sprinter sees the finish line, he has that extra punch in the legs. It was still very hard, with headwind. The idea was I would start and Maxim (Van Gils) would stay in my wheel if I wouldn’t be able to keep it until the finish. Axel (Zingle) started his sprint quite early, I followed him and on the good moment I could come out.”
“This win is very important, I gained a bit of confidence back. It’s a nice step. I live to race, and now this victory just makes me proud. It was a super nice race of the whole team. I know the course well and my team was very strong.” Arnaud De Lie will continue his program next week at the GP du Morbihan and Tro-Bro Léon.
Picture: PhotoNews
