It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Arnaud De Lie had pinpointed Gent-Wevelgem as one of his main objectives of the season, but the Belgian made no impression on Sunday’s race. He would reach the finish on Vanackerestraat alone, rolling home in 90th place more than five minutes down on winner Mads Pedersen.
In both good days and bad, De Lie usually offers an affably plain-speaking analysis of his races. This time out, the 22-year-old preferred to drift through the mixed zone without a word and ride directly to his team bus. The post-mortem was instead left to Lotto-Dstny CEO Stéphane Heulot.
