In the De Lie group, we also found Girmay, Démare, Laporte or… Lenny Martinez. And a minute after him, Jasper Philipsen arrived. But make no mistake: the Bull of Lescheret could have ranked much higher than 96th place if he had not completely disconnected during the second part of the race. Because the signals of his form were excellent: he was one of the last sprinters to have been dropped from the peloton when UAE Emirates made the race tougher. Behind boys like Mathieu van der Poel or Paul Lapeira.
guillementI handled the heat well and that was the main goal.
“The day went really well and I managed the heat well, which was my main objective, summed up De Lie as he crossed the line. I had good legs and I held on as much as possible, to ensure the deadlines. Then as soon as I saw a nice little group, I felt comfortable again. We had a good chat and, in addition, Maxim Van Gils finished in the top 5. It was a great day.”
Belgian champion Arnaud De Lie before the start of his first Tour de France: “Arriving in Nice would already be a victory!”
His very first on the Tour de France, the gigantism of which he was able to measure. “In the peloton, it went well but the noise around and the crowd, it was impressive. It’s completely different from other races.”
The man who wore the Belgian champion’s jersey for the first time in a race will be able to see it again in the next three weeks, which he should be able to animate given his current form.
