Arnaud De Lie was one of the most successful sprinters of the year in 2023 but only just chalked up his first notch in the win column in Sunday's Famenne Ardenne Classic.
The Lotto Dstny rider spent four weeks out of competition after struggling through the Classics, the probable answer to his lacklustre performances was a diagnosis of Lyme disease. The tick-borne bacteria that causes the disease can often be cured with antibiotics and it seems to have done the trick.
After out-sprinting Axel Zingle (Cofidis) and teammate Maxim Van Gils, De Lie was understandably relieved.
"I'm super happy with this victory after a difficult period," De Lie said. "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 and they were very strong. I'm proud."
De Lie's problems cropped up after a crash in Le Samyn led to struggles during Paris-Nice. After dropping out of the latter, De Lie skipped Milan-San Remo and raced to top-10s in the GP de Denain and Koksijde Classics. But after sub-par finishes in the E3 Saxo Classic and Gent-Wevelgem, the team put De Lie on the bench for the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
His victory on Sunday shows that the 22-year-old is still on track to make his Tour de France debut, as had been in the team's plans.
"This is very good for confidence. That confidence was somewhat lost when I was having a hard time. I feel like that's back a bit now. This is a great first step," De Lie said.
"I've had difficult moments recently. I trained well and made a lot of sacrifices," he said of his scuttled Classics plans. "But in the end, I couldn't do much. It gives me great pleasure to win here. But it is especially nice that I had a good feeling again."
De Lie will continue to focus on one-day races in the coming weeks, with the Grand Prix du Morbihan, Tro-Bro Léon and Circuit de Wallonie on his calendar before he mounts his final Tour de France push in June at the Tour de Suisse.
