Arnaud De Lie is back! After his poor spring, he sprinted away from friend and foe in the Famenne Ardenne Classic. Good for his 1st win of the season. De Lie’s teammate Maxim Van Gils (3rd) completed the party for Lotto-Dstny.
For Arnaud De Lie, the Famenne Ardenne Classic was the first race after a miserable spring (with a fall in Le Samyn, Lyme disease and no results).
“But I don’t know if I’m ready for it today,” De Lie held off the pressure at the start.
It became clear in the last 30 kilometers that De Lie should not expect a present. Mainly Israel-Premier Tech started to attack each other.
On the last slope, Derek Gee first shook the tree, then his teammate Riley Sheehan took over. But thanks to Cofidis everything came together again.
De Lie could not be beaten from the first 20 positions in the final. But when Axel Zingle started the sprint quite early, De Lie had to close a gap.
The top favorite zoomed past Zingle and crossed the line victoriously. The relief was visible on his face.
De Lie: “It was a difficult period”
De Lie was visibly pleased with his first victory of the season.
“I have experienced difficult moments recently,” he admits.
“I trained well and made a lot of sacrifices (for the classics). 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 can try to continue that good feeling next weekend in the French one-day races the GP du Morbihan and the Tro-Bro Léon. Races in which he wants to gain extra confidence for his Tour debut.
| Result Famenne Ardenne Classic (1.1) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Arnaud De Lie | |
| 2. | Axel Zingle (Fra) | |
| 3. | Maxim Van Gils | |
| 4. | Riley Sheehan (USA) | |
| 5. | Emilien Jeannière (Fra) | |
| 6. | Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) | |
| 7. | Axel Huens (Fra) | |
| 8. | Lorenzo Rota (Ita) | |
| 9. | Vincent Van Hemelen | |
| 10. | Mads Andersen (Den) | |
Tags: Delightful victory Arnaud Lie celebrates comeback mighty sprint Famenne Ardenne Classic
