Last Friday, during the presentation of the Lotto team, a relaxed Arnaud De Lie attracted all eyes. A serenity that suggests a 2025 season full of success? Impossible to say, but his sports management and his teammates firmly believe in it. With twelve days of racing scheduled before the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (read here) – nine more than in 2024 – Arnaud De Lie intends to start the season with a bang. The objective? Win quickly to free yourself from all pressure. “Once he gets his first win, he will be relieved and fully launched”confides Jasper De Buyst at the microphone of DirectVelo. The choice to start the season with two races in Valencia, where he will proudly wear the Belgian Champion jersey, reflects this strategy. “He will no longer go to Tenerife to prepare for the Classics, but will take part in stage races at the start of the year. The altitude course did not suit him at the time, but that was not the only reason to his failure There were of course also health problems, and we must not forget that he is still young and that he had never been mentally confronted with a situation where things were not going well. for him, everything always seemed to go naturally”explains Kurt Van de Wouwer. For Jasper De Buyst, the tensions felt by Arnaud De Lie last season were understandable. “At 22, there’s a lot of pressure on his shoulders, and he puts it on himself too. Since he started cycling, he’s won around ten races every year. So when he had to wait until April to get his first victory in 2024, it made him nervous, frustrated.”
REFINED MANAGEMENT FOR CLASSICS
If some fear a lack of freshness before Paris-Roubaix, the team has taken measures to avoid this situation. By removing Paris-Nice from his calendar, Arnaud De Lie will be able to preserve his strength for the Flandrian Classics. “Paris-Nice, with the cold and the wind, is drawing on reserves. It’s a good decision not to participate,” explains Jasper De Buyst, who is confident about his leader’s chances. “If he remains spared from health problems, he can afford a nice semi-Classic. Maybe not the Tour of Flanders yet, but races like the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Ghent-Wevelgem, Dwars door Vlaanderen , even Paris-Roubaix, are within his reach.” For his part, Sébastien Grignard notices impressive progress at Arnaud De Lie. “I didn’t expect him to improve so much when he turned pro. Today, he’s getting over the bumps more and more easily.”
The dynamic around Arnaud De Lie in the Classics will also evolve. With the departures of Victor Campenaerts and Florian Vermeersch, other riders like Brent Van Moer and Cédric Beullens will have a reinforced role alongside him. Montois Sébastien Grignard hopes to contribute more by staying longer in the heat of the action. “My role is often to put him before a key point, but I would like to go further in the race. I think I have the ability to help him even better.”
-A SPRINTER… WHO REFUSES THE LABEL
After the Classics, Arnaud De Lie will have to don another costume: that of a sprinter in the Tour de France. A name that he does not particularly like, but which Jasper De Buyst considers from a different angle. “Everyone sees Jasper Philipsen as a sprinter. However, that didn’t stop him from winning Milan-San Remo and getting on the podium at Paris-Roubaix. There’s nothing negative about being a sprinter.” The key will be to strengthen Arnaud De Lie’s confidence in his top speed. “On the Tour, he had a tendency to doubt, to look left and right thinking that Kooij or Philipsen were faster. But he has the speed to beat them. It’s all in the head.” Jasper De Buyst does not hesitate to compare Arnaud De Lie to an Alexander Kristoff of the great years (winner of Milan-San Remo 2014, the Tour of Flanders 2015 and four stages on the Tour de France). “We often think of the Kristoff of recent seasons, but at his peak, he was a machine. Arnaud has the same style: he can throw 300 meters and hold to the line.”
The Lotto team also plans to perfect the sprint train around it, an element that could still be improved during the last Tour de France. “We will work on automation, watch videos and hold meetings to be ready”concludes Jasper De Buyst. Arnaud De Lie and his teammates are therefore full of good intentions for 2025.
