ProTeam Arnaud De Lie: “I really surprised myself.”

The 20-year-old Belgian looks back on a fantastic start to his first pro season.
Race 30 April 2022

On Sunday 1 May, Lotto Soudal will be in Germany to race the 59th Eschborn-Frankfurt. During this 184 kilometres long WorldTour one-day race, the peloton will face a tough course with ascents of amongst others the Feldberg and Mammolshain. But as the final climb is situated at still 40 kilometres to go, the sprint teams have plenty of time left to organize things. The past has also shown that Eschborn-Frankfurt is first and foremost a sprinters’ race.

In a possible sprint scenario, Arnaud De Lie will be Lotto Soudal’s chosen man. He will be part of the line-up including amongst others Filippo Conca, Thomas De Gendt, Rüdiger Selig and Maxim Van Gils. The two recent signings of Lotto Soudal, Carlos Barbero and Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg will wear the race suit of the Belgian WorldTeam for the first time.

The 20-year-old neo-pro Arnaud De Lie had with three victories (Trofeo Palma, GP Monseré and Volta Limburg Classic) and places of honnour in amongst others Nokere Koerse and Classic Brugge-De Panne a fabulous start to the season. After a short period of rest, he worked towards the next period of races, which begins with Eschborn-Frankfurt on Sunday. De Lie looks back on his first months as a pro and already looks ahead to what’s to come.

“I am really surprised about what I have already performed, I didn’t expect this right away. At the age of 19, you’re not supposed to immediately be up there but I’m happy that I could prove otherwise with three victories and several nice places of honour. There were no specific expectations on a sports level during my first year as a pro, it was all about learning as much as possible. That is why I am really proud of what I’ve showed in the first part of the season”, begins Arnaud De Lie.



Short period of rest after the Classics

‘I’ve had several days without the bike and I helped out on the farm to take my mind a bit off cycling. Afterwards, I started training again with a lot of motivation and I continued to build on the good base to prepare for the upcoming races. I chose to stay in my familiar environment and train on the beautiful roads in and around the Belgian province of Luxemburg.”



Finding the race legs at Eschborn-Frankfurt

“Eschborn-Frankfurt, with several tough climbs, is a race which could suit me well on paper but it remains to be seen how the legs will respond to that short period of rest. In any case, I want to do well. The race usually comes down to a sprint and I hope to be still part of the bunch towards the final kick.”

Continuing the learning process

“In the next months I want to grasp any opportunity to learn but every race is also a good way to set a nice performance. There are still lots of beautiful races to come for me. The Tro Bro Léon and GP Morbihan should in theory suit me because I always performed well on Breton roads while racing in the youth ranks. With its unpaved roads, Tro Bro Léon is an atypical race but it’s a part of modern cycling which I really love. Furthermore, I really look forward to for example the Brussels Cycling Classic, but it’s still a bit too early to talk about that”, concludes Arnaud De Lie.

Images: Photo News.

In this article