Development Arnaud De Lie is the fastest in last stage of Tour Alsace

Arnaud De Lie conquered a second stage win at Tour Alsace yesterday! He beat the Norwegian rider Martin Urianstad and the British rider Samuel Watson at the end of the final stage, which took the riders from Mulhouse to Berrwiller. 19-year-old Arnaud De Lie could could also take the points jersey home with him.

“The team performed very strongly yesterday and I was able to take the win thanks to that teamwork”, says Arnaud De Lie. “We had prepared the sprint very well and knew there were two corners with 800 metres to go. 700 metres before the finish, the road started going uphill very slowly. I was perfectly positioned, on the seventh or eighth place. I followed the movements of my opponents, but only started sprinting myself 200 metres before the line. And I could take the victory. I am very happy!”

“This was a totally different sprint than when I won my first stage. This time it was a pure bunch sprint, well organized by the teams. On Thursday it was more chaotic and riders were coming from everywhere”, tells De Lie.

The Lotto Soudal rider praises the work of his teammates: “They did an amazing job yesterday. Liam Slock and Ramses Debruyne controlled the advantage of the break and made sure the gap was never more than one and a half minutes. Aaron Van der Beken, Luca Van Boven and Lennert Van Eetvelt helped me to get into perfect position for the sprint. I want to thank them all.”

De Lie is also very happy to have won the points jersey: “After my first stage win, I led the points classification. After the two mountain stages that followed I shared the lead with Santiago Umba. But yesterday I could reclaim the jersey by picking up some points at an intermediate sprint and of course thanks to my stage victory. It’s wonderful to win such a jersey!”

Lennert Van Eetvelt finished the Tour Alsace on the eighth place of GC, 1’36” down on the Spanish winner José Félix Parra. On Friday, Van Eetvelt had become fifth at La Planche des Belles Filles.

Lotto Soudal U23 also had a team at Brussels-Zepperen yesterday. The break made it to the finish. Milan Fretin won the sprint for the fifth place.

The next race for the Lotto Soudal Development Team is the Ronde van Vlaams-Brabant.

28/07 – 1/08 Ronde van Vlaams-Brabant (Nat. 2.12)

Line-up: Jente Boons, Vito Braet, Milan Fretin, Steven Pattyn, Liam Slock, Jarne Van de Paar and Lars Van Ryckeghem.

Sports director: Carl Roes

Photo: Michaël Gilson/DirectVelo