The smile and mischief of a child. When he crossed the finish line in Rimini, more than 29 minutes after Romain Bardet, Arnaud De Lie still had a face full of freshness.I finished first in my group.”he even smiled when he received a recovery drink from the carers.
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 hard as possible to meet the deadlines. Then as soon as I saw a nice little group, I felt comfortable again. We had a good chat and, what’s more, 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 was impressive. It’s completely different from other races.”
The one who wore the Belgian champion jersey for the first time in the race will still be able to see it in the next three weeks, which he should be able to liven up given his form.
Our consultants preface the Tour de France: “A stage for De Lie, a part of the unknown for Remco and van Aert”
